Tales of the Gotei-13
by Ko'orisha
Summary: 100 Short Stories on the different Bleach characters and parings based on some prompt words and personal HCs. Mild expletives and some fluff, depending on the chapter. Chapter 12: Moon
1. Where Rukia looses her cool

**A/N: Set a few years after Aizen had been defeated**

* * *

It was a Friday night. And Friday nights meant FNDS. FNDS? Well it stood for Friday Night Drinking Session(s). Yes, the 's' was necessary . Sometimes, one drinking party was not enough and the usual crew had to go for two or three in a row, hopping from bar to bar like a bunch of bees pollinating flowers. A sloppy and oddly mismatched bunch of bees indeed. The core group of drinkers, who would turn up almost without fail, were Matsumoto, Hisagi and Kira. Once in a while Renji, Kyoraku and Ukitake would join them. Owing to work and illnesses, their appearances were sporadic. The odd Shinigami might find himself dragged into their group if he wasn't careful, especially when Matusmoto felt that they needed more souls to liven things up. It was much to this group's surprise when Kuchiki Rukia of all people turned up at one of their usual bars one Friday night.

The Lieutenant of the 13th Squad sighed as she grabbed a chair. She ordered a bottle of sake, popped the cap and promptly and downed the contents. The present Shinigami traded looks. Rukia seldom drunk, and when she did, it was in small, controlled amounts. Seeing her down a bottle of the stronger stuff was down right alarming.

"Rukia-chan, what's up?" Matusmoto asked, pushing another bottle of the sake closer to her. Hisagi snorted. Matusmoto had an ear for gossip. Anything Matusmoto felt she needed to hear would probably sell well in the Seireitei Communications, especially if he got to it faster than the Shinigami Women's Association's monthly magazine...

Rukia sighed, downing a huge cup of sake, putting her head on the table with a loud conk. "Today," she declared, "was the worst day of my life!" Another sake bottle lost half its contents. Matusmoto and Hisagi leaned forward eagerly. Kira sighed. His buddies were really pieces of work.

"Is the world trying to test my endurance for bull today or what?" She whined, clumsily grasping for more sake to drown her sorrows.

"Were the new recruits that bad? I didn't meet mine, Taicho sent me to the World of the Living. He was ranting about me corrupting them or something." Matusmoto asked, digging for more.

"Don't even start. Ukitake-taicho was unwell today and I had to brief them..." She muttered, eyes closing at the horror of the morning.

The day had started out promisingly enough. 20 new recruits were waiting at the Division's main office. They were to be properly introduced and inducted into the place that would be home to them for many years to come.

The first thing she realized about the recruits, was that all of them were about to faint from excitement. They were bouncing off the walls while she needed a cup of super strong extra black coffee before she could properly begin the day. With the coffee machine broken down, she had to do without. She furrowed her eyebrows. Was there something she was missing? Pushing that thought aside, she rounded them off into one of the training halls and began her introduction speech.

Half way through, a pair of the newbies started giggling behind their hands. They were trying to conceal their mirth, but failing miserably. Well, she though dryly, we know why they aren't in the Second Squad. A quick look at their way was enough for them to sober up, and she continued her speech. Soon enough she reached the part she detested the most- warning them about respecting the captains and lieutenants of the Gotei 13. Her dislike for forcing the new recruits to respect her was showing on her face. Respect should be earned, not forced. But rules were rules and they were required to go through this; if not the more, ah, enthusiastic Shinigami might get the wrong idea. With a sigh, she began the well rehearsed speech.

"There are a few things to note when it comes to the Captains and Lieutenants-" She was soundly interrupted by none other than her red haired best friend crashing through one of the open windows, narrowly avoiding the newbies. He landed with a showy somersault and flashed her a grin. The Shinigami stared openly. More than a few females were whispering to each other, no doubt about the 6th Squad's Lieutenant. Rukia had to admit, he wasn't bad looking, but for him to have a group of die hard fans, the thought was hilarious.

"Renji! What the hell! I told you not to do that this year!" She sighed. Her patience wore thin as year after year, Renji found new and sometimes rather amusing ways to crash her lectures without fail. The previous year involved a hole in the roof. Prior to that year, he all but hid in one of the spaces underneath the hall and made ridiculous noises when she spoke, causing her to think she was hearing things.

"Shut up squirt. You're probably boring them with it. Sit down and let me help you out a bit yeah?" He said, a wink directed at the 20 wide-eyed students. Their response was enthusiastic. He grabbed the short Shinigami from behind and then placed a hand over her mouth, to the astonishment of her young charges. Were the Lieutenants so friendly with each other?

"Right. Some simple rules," he began, ignoring the squirming Rukia in his arms. The amount of respect she was commandeering was slipping out of her grasp. Crazy ass Renji. Can't anything get in his thick skull? She cursed soundly.

"Rule number one. Rukia here is your Lieutenant, so listen to her or you'd be at the receiving end of a stack of paper work. Hell, listen to anyone who ranks higher than you and hopefully you can spare yourself from the paperwork." Rukia kicked him in the shins but he still didn't let her go. That's not the way to do it! The newbies laughed at his warnings.

"Rule number two. If you joined this division, or any division so you can get close and personal with the captains or lieutenants, give up. Espcially if it's Rukia here." He said with a wicked grin, Zabimaru's polished sheath gleaming in the morning sun. Some of the guys paled. Oh how he loves terrorizing those Shinigami who think the world of themselves. "Just so to add, if any of you get fresh with her, Kuchiki-taicho would shred you." Rukia protested. She can handle herself fine. Damn that red headed bastard for ruining her reputation as a Shinigami!

"Rule number 3. If Kurosaki Ichigo comes barging in for no good reason, especially into Rukia's office, you have the authority to run him through cos-" His one minute of fame had ended as abruptly as it started, thanks to a well aimed Kido spell that happened to be Rukia's favorite (Hado#33).

Renji was smoking, Rukia was fuming. She had endured his crap for years already, and this time he was over stepping the boundaries. Ichigo had been Soul Society's savior, he can saunter into the Soutaicho's office for all he wanted.

"Renji," she hissed, grabbing his the front of his shirt and pulling him down to eye level. "We're gonna have a nice little chat later, shall we?" She asked sweetly, the class watching the exchange as if it were a drama serial, but completely missing the fury in her eyes. Man would the rumor mills be running! Renji and Rukia? Or was it Ichigo and Rukia?

Letting the dazed man go, she continued on her lecture, as if Renji had never happened.

Of course, rumors about the exchange flew about in no time flat, the recruits being terrible gossips. With each retelling, the story got more and more dramatic. When Ukitake walked into his office later on the in afternoon, the version that reached him was that Rukia was showing the new shingami around when out of no where Ichigo appeared and started making out with her. Not long after, a jealous Renji flew in from the window (his informant was really particular about Renji flying in) and the two started flinging kido spells at each other, resulting in Renji looking like a bomb blew up in his face.

The captain smiled inwardly. Renji and Ichigo were the worst people in all three worlds when it came to Kido. It was after all, a rumor. But in all lies there are elements of truth. The question to be asked is, what was true? With a sip of his herbal tea, Ukitake drew his own conclusions and decided that he must intervene for the sake of his poor Lieutenant's heart. He sent for her, and began phrasing what would be a very interesting conversation.

To cut the long and awkward conversation short, Ukitake had basically thought Renji and Ichigo were fighting for her affections. He then spoke of 'young love and it's problems', also adding in many stories from his experiences. Rukia was shocked at the least. Renji was so going to get a beating of a lifetime for this. After a particularly embarrassing one that involved Kyoraku-taicho, sake and a candy box, Rukia pulled a the 'too much work to complete' excuse and escaped. But not before Ukitake let her off early to 'sort out the affairs of the heart'.

Fuming, she went to find Renji to beat the living daylights out of him. When he was found, her Nii-sama had punished him nicely enough with a 50 page report on damages and injuries when a more racy version of the gossip reached his ears. Rukia sniggered. Trust him to be on top of all the gossip in Seireitei.

However, she herself was not spared. Byakuya really meant well and wanted to ensure his sister would find someone suitable. (Read as : not Ichigo or Renji. Preferably some one of a decent class and had manners). In due course, a famous Kuchiki lecture had to follow. It included Byakuya haltingly trying to convince Rukia that there were better men out there that deserved her attention.

By the end it, it was way past evening time and she had accomplished nothing the whole day. Thinking about the pile of paperwork waiting for her was really testing her endurance. Curse paperwork and that no good Renji, and that idiot Ichigo, and her Nii-sama for misunderstanding, and Ukitake for being so sick, and basically all of Seireitei! She needed a drink, damn what her brother may think! As she trugged into the nearest bar, she had unknowingly left a trail of ice and snow behind her.

"Screw the world," she said, giving up on explaining everything. She didn't have the endurance to hear the Gossip Queen of Seireitei make a joke of the whole situation. She just grabbed the sake and drunk it as if it were water.

"Ah, I see." Matusmoto said knowingly In her career as a Shinigami, she had seen worse cases of gossip than Rukia's. Nodding, she wordlessly got another drink for her fellow Lieutenant. Hisagi looked at them as if they had sprouted two heads.

"Men like you won't know," Matusmoto said as wisely as she could while drunk. Turning to Rukia who was more than drunk, she continued. "Now was it Renji or Ichigo you're really in love with?"

* * *

**OMAKE**

"DANCE! SODE NO SHIRAYUKI! FIRST DANCE! TSUKISHIRO!"

"Wait Rukia-chan I-"

The next morning, Hitsugaya led his soldiers out into the field for mass training when a small commotion broke out. He pushed to the front and saw a very interestingly made ice sculpture that was in the liking of his Lieutenant. It was even colored to look like her!

"My my, I find this aesthetically pleasing. Leave it be and carry on with your drills." He said.


	2. Ichigo and Bats

**A/N: Edited (24th Feb 2015) to clarify some things. Thanks to Guest reviewer EJ for pointing out the confusion. I hope it was rectified. (If not, just let me know and I'll re-edit) **

* * *

Ichigo was most particularly edgy, everything these days set him off. Well, who could blame him? The 16 year old was forced to grow up painfully fast, grasping and using skills that would have taken lifetimes to learn of, facing the same amount of danger and despair as he fought relentlessly against Aizen Sosuke and his forces.

When the fighting had ended, it was almost surreal. The short but sharp fight was almost painfully predictable; hero versus villian. It has cost him his very existence as a Shinigami. It was everything he fought for, believed in. With only a tiny percentage of reiatsu left in his body, poor Ichigo was left to wallow in despair. He so badly wanted to wake up one morning with Urahara telling him it was a silly miscalculation on his part and he would get his powers back. Of course it could never happen, and as his powers slowly dwindled to naught, so did his interactions with the Spiritual World.

The last he had heard of them, they were building up Seireitei again, while in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow, Neliel and Halibel were working together to polish off the remaining Arranca that still believed in Aizen. They (more like Neliel) promised to send a messager to Ichigo to check up on him when they had settled down, but days melted into months, and it seems that everyone had forgotten about their hero.

One summer evening, just before dinner, Ichigo was lying miserably on his bed, flipping half heartedly a comic book, his mind replaying all the wonderful (and dangerous) times he spent with his friends, saving the world. Suddenly, something whizzed by the corner of his vision, and he sat up abruptly. It was a bat, roughly the size of a clenched fist. It flew with great purpose and settled upside down right above Ichigo's head.

The orange - haired boy bit back a shout of surprise. Surely there couldn't be a coincidence that a bat of all animals decided to get comfortable in his room, on top of his head. Maybe Ulquiorra had somehow managed to survive the battle? Perhaps Orihime managed to reject his death? Ichigo stared at the bat, weighing the possibility, he may be carrying a message from the Hueco Mundo crew and in his current state, he would even gladly receive a message from Grimmjow. He concentrated on sensing the reiatsu of his visitor, but it was futile. Even at full strength, he was one of the worst people in existence when it came to reiatsu and it's uses.

"Ulquiorra?" He asked tentatively.

The bat opened its wings in a decidedly Ulquiorra-ish fashion.

Taking heart that it may be his now undead foe, Ichigo launched into a tirade about his lost of powers, the Shinigamis and Hollows abandoning him once he had outlived his usefulness, and asked if he (the bat) brought any news from his allies in the land of Hollows.

The bat stayed silent at this, but continued to eye Ichigo with intrest.

After a rounds of trying to get an answer out of the bat, Ichigo snapped.

"Oh for gods sake! I know I brutally murdered you, but is this really the damn time to be mad at me? Just deliver your message and then get the hell out of here!" He all but yelled at the poor bat, raising his voice. The bat, once again, had no reply. With a yell, Ichigo got to his feet and plucked the poor bat out of his resting place.

"Look right here, fourth Espada, I've killed you once, and that's enough. Don't make me kill you again." He warned, gently squeezing the bat that was flapping its wings furiously, trying to make an escape.

"I don't give a shit about whatever stupid grudge you have against me, Ulquiorra, but give. Me. The. Message." Ichigo all but snarled, applying more pressure to the animal, who started screeching really loudly.

Before he could shut it up, he heard Yuzu knocking on the door, saying that she was coming in, and the door opened before he can say 'Aizen's glasses'.

"Ichi-nii!" She gasped, as the ladle she was holding almost slipped from her grasp. "What are you-" she began, looking at the bat, then at her brother with a quizzical look. Well, she couldn't be blamed. A 16 year old boy in all his teenage glory was knelt on top of his bed, his hands around the fluffy bat, who had finally given up struggling and was lying limply in his grasp.

"Uh... Yuzu..." Ichigo stammered, dropping the fuzzy creature, which promptly took off.

"Ichi-nii! What are you doing?" Yuzu said asked, seeing the bat fly off into the night. "How could you do that ?" She all but screamed, waving her ladle dangerously around.

"Why why why why why?" She asked, her voice going an octave higher with each word. "She was so nice! Now she won't come back again!" Yuzu shrieked to a very confused Ichigo. Ulquiorra did what? "Yuzu..." Ichigo began, not quite knowing what brought about that fit.

Cue Karin to walk in, her attention piped by the hullabaloo. "What's going on Ichii-nii? Is Yuzu having one if her random crying fits again?" She enquired, taking in the scene before her.

"Karin-chan! Karin-chan!" Yuzu squeaked, "Ichi-nii...ichi-nii was doing disgusting things to her!" She sniffed dramatically.

Karin kept her questions to herself, but raised an eyebrow all the same. "At first...at first I thought Ichii-nii was in his room doing homework... but then there was a lot of high pitched screaming and I thought he was being attacked by a screaming robber!" Yuzu continued, her sobbing becoming more sparodic. Karin rolled her eyes. Typical Kurosaki family evening, she thought.

"But..." Yuzu continued, "when I went in...he was sitting on top of her and strangling her!" Karin's eyebrows shot up to her hairline, her eyes going really wide. Ichigo was doing what?! The same time, the ex shinigami realised how bad the situation reflected on him.

"Okay Yuzu that's enough now, you and Karin should get to bed, you have school tomorrow!" he said weakly, trying to shoo them out of his room with whatever shred of dignity he had left.

"I can't get to sleep! Not with what I just saw!" Well that was the icing on the frosted cake.

"Ichi-nii, I respect that you're a boy and have...urges and shit. But please don't bring them back home. Or at least do your...weird strangling stuff when no one's around!" Karin eyed him seriously, putting a firm arm around her younger twin.

"Wait but I wasn't doing-" his sentence was duly ended with a well executed kick that would have sent soccer balls flying across the field. With a satisfied crunch that came from her foot making contact with his ribs, she ushered her bewilded sister off, muttering about pervert elder brothers.

Ichigo sighed, running his hands through his hair. Stupid bats.

* * *

**Omake **

It had been several days since the incident.

"Hey Yuzu, what happened to that bat you like to feed? The one you called Batsy." Karin asked one evening. "I don't see it around."

"Karin-chan, Ichi-nii almost killed her! Of course she won't come along anymore." Yuzu replied, slicing up the vegetables with a dark look in her eyes.

"Since when? Ichi-nii wouldn't kill a bat. Stop making up weird things Yuzu. It probably found another place to get food."

Yuzu spun on her heels, pointing the knife at Karin. "Well that's what he was doing a few nights ago! And Batsy was cute too!"

"HUH?!" Karin's eyes grew as large as saucers as she almost spat out the drink in her mouth. "So you mean...he wasn't messing around with some girl?"

"Karin-chan, what did you think he was doing?"

"Nothing...nothing... So instead of a pervert we have an animal abuser. Great." Karin muttered as she took another sip of her drink.


	3. Valentine

**A/N: Valentine's Day has passed, but who says you can't have V-Day themed fics? On a side note, if you'd like to see certain scenarios or parings, do let me know and I can try to make it happen :)  
**

Hitsugaya sat at his desk, brows furrowed as he tried to drown out the noise from the party that was going on in his training courtyard. Of course, his Lieutenant Matsumoto just had to use Valentine's Day as the perfect excuse to throw another loud party and give nearly half of the Gotei a reason to skive off their work.

It wasn't that he didn't like Valentine's Day, but he partially blamed himself for choosing that day of all days to ask his childhood sweetheart Hinamori to date him. Two important dates smashed on one day. Some times he wondered how he could be a genius if he chose such a flashy date. Almost a year ago, stuttering and mumbling, he had asked her out right at the front porch of Granny's house. She said yes immediately and they began dating.

Despite his love for her, they kept their relationship low-key as they preferred to keep their private lives to themselves. A few observant people knew of it, but understood their reasoning to keep their dating secret. He knew what would happen should the news be public information. The SWA and the Seireitei Bulletin would never stop hounding the both of them. Their respective fan-clubs would wail and bemoan the state of the world, their worst fears coming true. Matsumoto would be so happy she might declare a public holiday in commemoration. Now that was something the young prodigy would loathe...

This year, the usually calm and composed captain was twisting himself into knots. Should he buy flowers? What about dinner? But how can he do that without all of Seireitei knowing? What would his precious Hinamori say should he fail to deliver?

Letting out a sigh, he massaged his temples. The forms laid in front of him were messily filled up, scraps of paper lying around bearing witness to his attempts at planning a date with his girlfriend. A glance at the setting sun told him he better get his act together or...

He threw his brush down, giving up on the paperwork. Screw it! They can be done tomorrow. A frown set upon his handsome features, he paced his office, throwing about several ideas, none of them good enough for him.

Just when the sun dipped below the horizon, a Hell Butterfly flew in, landing neatly on his finger. He wanted to pull his hair out. For gods sake, can he not have an evening off?

Hitsugaya seriously contemplated crushing the creature and continuing his pacing, but a nagging sense of duty made him hear the insect out. His eyes widened in surprise. A female's delicate voice filled his ears, a request for backup. To his knowledge, Hinamori was the only Shinigami that had gone to the snowy mountains in the human world to dispatch a high level Hollow that had appeared. She was expected to return by nightfall.

Wasting no time at all, he grabbed his Zanpakuto, and charged towards the Senkaimon at top speed. Stopping for just a second (which felt like forever) for the officers on duty to put the reiatsu suppressor on his collarbone, he tore through the portal at break neck speed. He prayed to whatever gods that were above that he would arrive on time. World gates were tricky like that. He could enter the World of the Living without wasting a single second, or in some unfortunate cases, arrive hours later to heavy casualties.

When one charges through dimensions at top speeds, it can be forgiven if they crash into something, or in this case someone. "Out of my way!" He yelled, pushing past the offending person without registering who it was.

"Shiro-chan?" A stunned Hinamori asked, grabbing him by his wrist. It was only then did he realize he crashed into the very person he was looking for!

"Hinamori! You're alright?" He asked, giving her a once over. Other than a red flush to her cheeks (probably the cold, he mused) she was physically fine. "Where's the Hollow?"

"Oh!" Her eyes widened, as if she remembered that she came here Hollow hunting.

"Hinamori..."

"Ah... happyvalentinesday!" She muttered, refusing to make eye contact with the captain.

"Huh?!" Was said Captain's stunned reply.

"Rangiku-san said that you'd have no time to plan something for our anniversary, so she told me that you were waiting here so I came. And I guess she told you that I went to dispatch a Hollow and needed backup so you came! It's perfect isn't it? I don't think any Shinigami would be patrolling around here so no one would find out!" Hinamori beamed, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the mountains. "Although, Shiro-chan, if you forget again next year, I'll roast you with Tobiume!"

Wait... since when did Matsumoto know?! Hitsugaya thought as Hinamori led him through a snowy path lit by lanterns. A short walk later, the couple arrived at a small holiday ski resort at the base of the mountains; his girlfriend singing Matsumoto's praises.

"We're gonna go skiing tomorrow Shiro-chan! Won't it be fun?" She babbled on, entering their room and shoving Hitsugaya into a gigai. "We have to go shopping! There's lots to see and..." Her words were cut off by Hitsugaya's surprisingly warm embrace, which evolved into a very heated make-out session.

"Happy one year anniversary, Momo." He muttered as they broke their kiss, their faces flushed red.

**Omake**

Hitsugaya and Hinamori were busy spending their last day of the weekend getaway pigging out on the varieties of food available.

"Ne, Shiro-chan, we don't need to get back so soon anyway, we can stay for a day or two more." Hinamori said between mouthfuls of noodles. "Rangiku-san said that she'll even help with the paper work when you're gone, and she sounded serious about it."

Hearing that, he spat out his noodles, grabbed his sword and opened a Senkaimon, heading straight to his office. "LEAVE MY PAPERS ALONE MATUSMOTOOOO."

Hinamori face-palmed.


	4. Matusmoto attempts Bankai

**Set when Isshin Shiba was the captain of the Tenth Squad and Matsumoto was the Lieutenant.**

* * *

The Shinkai release of a sword is unique. Not in the sense that each Shinigami has a unique soul resting inside them, waiting to be manifested into a form. The experience of talking to a part of his soul varies from person to person. Take Hitsugaya Toshiro for example. With a powerful ice dragon for a Zanpakuto spirit, his inner world would be cold. According to him, talking to his spirit either allowed him to leave cooled and refreshed, or frozen to the bone in a very nasty frostbite-like way. Sort of like interacting with the man himself. You either leave happy after talking to such a proficient officer, or literally get a blast of his icy reiatsu for angering him in some way or another.

When Matsumoto was asked to describe her Jinzen experience, she would always make up a lie, especially when it was during training sessions with her squad soldiers. Well, who would admit that when they finally get into their soul world, their soul would usually be drunk off her ass, lying around and not doing anything productive? Well, Matsumoto was extremely tired of it. She wanted to boast that she was way better than her third seat, since her captain may or may not have hinted that his position may go to him if he achieved Bankai before her.

With that steadfast resolve to clean up her act, she took a week's leave and found a quiet cave to meditate. As soon as she got in her soul world, Matsumoto realized that her lazy, no good spirit, was once again hungover. It was lying and meowing on a huge pile of junk. Bottles of sake, magazines, papers and take out boxes just seem to be a few things that Matsumoto could identify from the junk pile Haineko was resting on.

"Haineko!" The irritated Shinigami called. She had a week to get as close to Bankai as she wanted (although no one had managed to achieve Bankai in such a short time.) Perhaps manifesting that good for nothing cat would be good enough.

The ash-grey cat snarled something along the lines of "Shut up" and "Go away". Matsumoto expected it alright, it was part of her as well, no? Drawing out a bottle of sake from her clothes, she offered the drink to the cat like a peace offering.

Surprisingly, it refused. Matsumoto was shocked to say the least. It had never ever refused a drink. The cat righted itself and began licking her paws, it's voice echoing through Matsumoto's mind. "Why have you come?" It asked. "If you are seeking to unlock my full power, don't even bother now. We can try it in another, say, 500 years time." On an ordinary day, she would have agreed, but Matsumoto was a girl on a mission and she wouldn't let a lazy cat get in her way.

"Yeah, I have come for Bankai. Just tell me your real name and we can make everyone's life easier." She started, knowing fully well Haineko would never concede so easily. No harm in asking. With a lazy yawn, the great cat rolled over on its back, seemingly contemplating her offer.

All most immediately the cat said, "Normally I would have to manifest in your good for nothing world, but since I'm hungover as hell, go and get me some sake. But not just sake, but enough sake to ensure that every Shinigami in the Gotei 13 would get drunk. If you buy me a bottle more or a bottle less, you'd be paying in blood." The cat told her, licking its paws, thinking about her nefarious plan to work her Shinigami to the bone.

Matsumoto nearly screamed. Calculating how much sake it would take to get someone drunk was a long process. Doing it for herself took a few days. Imagine the whole Gotei 13! All the data she would have to collect. Oh she felt tired already. So so tired. But her resolve for Bankai was stronger. Releasing herself from Jinzen, she got to work.

Day melted into night, and night melted back into day. The remaining days were spent counting each and every drop of sake. With some eyelash batting and bust showing, she managed to get her hands on Squad 12 equipment that could do the math for her in a few short hours. The rest of the time, however, she spent raiding every bar in Soul Society. The grand total for the sake was about 5 years of salary- a small price to pay for Bankai, she reasoned. Getting Bankai then being promoted to captain would ensure a high pay. So no harm done.

One day before her week was up, she had managed to collate enough sake for her Zanpakuto. Entering her soul world again, the cat smiled to her, saying the amount was just right. It did not cast more than a glance at the huge pile of sake. Matsumoto beamed. That wasn't so hard. A lot of heavy lifting and Shunpoing about might have killed her muscles, and her head nearly burst trying to figure out that machine for Squad 12. Well, it was well in the name of Bankai.

Yet, Haineko had other ideas. The second part of her task was to deliver the sake to every officer, and ensure they consume it within 12 hours. She nearly backed out. No way! She would be roasted by all the captains. A look from Haineko was all it took get her moving. Magically, (but really it was kido infused Hell butterflies) the sake was delivered. Save for some very uptight officers, it had been consumed too.

God was she tired. She had never worked so hard in her life. Her muscles were screaming, her head was pounding, and there was no way she would drag herself a few hundred meters to buy some sake to soothe her ache. Despite the throbbing pain everywhere, she once again entered her soul world.

Haineko was still resting on the junk. When its Shinigami approached, weary with all the work she had to do, it sniggered to itself. It sure was fun duping that airhead, it thought. Like a cat with a mouse, it just had to play some more. It beckoned for Matsumoto to come closer, and she complied, eagerly waiting for the name of the final release.

"Before I give you my true name, you have to prove yourself once more. Go and seduce the Soutaicho then I will truly be able to allow myself to be wielded by you." It said regally, although it was inches away from cackling in glee.

Matsumoto made a face. Soutaicho? He's old, wrinkly and just the thought of it. Eww. The cat almost was hoping that she couldn't do it. It wanted to see her fail, so it will never need to work again. She seethed. Well she'd show it what Matsumoto Rangiku could do!

With a fat humph, she left the soul world, showing off even more of her cleavage as she stormed to the First Division's offices, determined to master the cat once and for all. There was a few hours left till her leave was up, and she wanted to come back victorious. If her third seat could graduate from the Academy in a year, she can achieve Bankai in a week.

Hitsugaya had though he had seen many strange things in the land of the dead. As such, he didn't react when nearly all the captains stormed into the 10th Division offices the same day Matsumoto returned from her leave, demanding the Lieutenant be sacked. Nor when Matsumoto screamed at her sword, saying it was a lying cheating bastard in addition to being lazy ass good for nothing toothpick. When Matsumoto took the offending sword out and blasted it with Kido spell after Kido spell, then proceed to pour cold water on it, he reasoned that it was just the stress of being a Lieutenant, and let her be.

But what made his skin crawl with distaste and his mind churn, was that in the wee hours just before Matsumoto returned, the temperature in Soul Society sky rocketed. The third seat was sleeping peacefully, enjoying the chill of Autumn's night air, when it suddenly turned superbly hot and stuffy, so much so that he had trouble breathing. His head was spinning and beads of sweat dripped down his hair. Only one person could change the temperature like that in an instant. With an annoyed scowl, he released his Shinkai and encased his room in ice, cursing the person who pissed the Soutaicho off so much.

Matsumoto walked into the office at 8 am, resembling a piece of burnt wood. 12 hours later, she left the office resembling a popsicle, vowing to herself to never listen to her Zanpakuto again.


	5. Dorm rooms

**College AU where Rukia is the younger sister of one of the professors (Byakuya), and Ichigo is a student there.**

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'Dorm Room 15' read the brightly polished sign on the old oak door. Kuchiki Rukia sighed as she pushed it open, revealing the quarters she would be sharing with another female during the few short years spent studying. It was not like she didn't want to share, but she really couldn't stand her fellow females, screaming about boys and the latest fashion trends. Her celebrated brother was a professor at the very same college. With some string pulling, he managed to get her in as well, not before stating clearly that he expected her not to soil their family name with bad results. Letting out her stress with a sigh, she collapsed on a bed, the sheets engulf her.

'Dorm Room 15' read the tiny slip of paper in front of his eyes. Kurosaki Ichigo's eyes narrowed. Was it some sick joke by the administrative staff? His name didn't mean 15. It meant 'one protector'. He did not appreciate the joke at all. Grabbing his duffel bag, he hurried down the corridor, scanning the room doors. At the furthest end of the corridor was his room. The door had been left ajar, a pair of bright pink track shoes placed outside. He shuddered, hoping his roommate wasn't into more feminine colors. Throwing his bag on the floor, he wandered further into the room with the intention of introducing himself to his room mate. To his shock, the other bed in the room was occupied by a rather short girl. Did he get the wrong room?

Said girl opened her eyes when she realized someone else was in the room. Her vision was blocked by her position, but she swore her room mate had outlandish orange hair. Wasn't it against the rules to dye one's hair? Pushing herself up, she was all ready to lecture them, but her mouth was left hanging open because the head of orange hair belonged to a male. What on earth is he doing in her room?

Ichigo stared, not quite understanding. Wasn't it a rule that guys roomed with guys and girls roomed with girls? There had to be a mix up in the allocation.

Rukia was thinking along the same lines, openly staring at the male in front of her. Wordlessly, she fished out her phone to call the administration office, hoping it was a mistake on their part. She couldn't room with a guy! What would her brother say?

Ichigo waited while Rukia exchanged some very heated words with whoever was on the other side of the line. From what he heard, there was no mix up. Just a shortage of rooms. Damn their luck.

Rukia seethed. What a disgrace! She, the famous and renowned Professor Kuchiki's younger sister, should be treated with more respect than this! Rooming with a hormonal guy was a one way ticket to trouble, and Rukia wanted none of that. "Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours." She said coldly, turning her back to him and fiddling with her phone.

Ichigo wondered what her problem was. Was it his hair? Or was it just because he looked like he was a part of a gang? "Fine." He replied, getting his bag and unpacking.

"By the way," Rukia suddenly said, "There's no more space left in the closet." Ichigo opened it and a ton of Chappy merchandise spewed forth. Plushies, bookmarks, shirts and various paraphernalia crashed onto him like a tidal wave. Stunned, he turned around to face the girl, who was rushing to stuff everything back again.

"Uh...whatever your name is... what the hell was that?" Ichigo asked.

"My name's Rukia, and that was my Chappy collection! Or at least my favorite ones! Isn't Chappy just great?" She said proudly, no trace of her earlier annoyance left.

Ichigo sighed. This would be a long year.


	6. Hypnotism

**A/N: This one's a request by mrdbznarutofan. Hope you like it:) I don't bite, so drop a request!**

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**Doctors AU **

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All was quiet at the Karakura hospital. The patients were fast asleep in their rooms as nurses on the night shift made their rounds. In the rest room, one nurse was bent over a thick stack of books, her eyes scanning the yellowing pages. She yawned and stretched, cursing herself for enrolling herself in the hypnotism course. There was so much reading to do! Her teacher was not any better, that slave driver. He was none other than the young prodigy, Hitsugaya Toushiro. He had been appointed to be her mentor, and he had asked, no, _demanded,_ that she finish the thick readings by the week's end. Matsumoto sighed, running a hand through her hair. If only she had the foresight to bring the books along when she went to do her hair.

She flipped another page, quickly ingesting it's contents. It was about post hypnotism. According to Hitsugaya, it was what they were trying to pilot in this hospital. He did mention that if the program was successful, it will make the people involved very famous. The girl moaned softly, if only she had realized that there was a reason that no one had signed up in the first place! The readings alone were enough to kill, and she had a practical session with Hitsugaya the next day after her shift had ended. She took shaky sips of coffee that had long gone cold, promising that she would sleep for only a few minutes and then get up to finish the book.

The very next morning, a very irritated Hitsugaya stormed into the rest room to find that his student and subordinate was fast asleep. There was even drool on his precious copies of textbooks.

"MATSUMOTO!" He bellowed, not caring that the rest of the junior doctors and nurses were staring at them.

"Yes Hitsugaya-san?" The lady sprung up from her sleep, fixing a bright cheery smile that was impossible for someone who had just woken up.

"Are you ready? We're going to run a trial on a patient in an hour. Fix yourself up quickly." He instructed, his eyes sweeping over her disheveled appearance.

"Yup yup!" She replied as a makeup kit and an assortment of other beauty products appeared on the table in front of the busty woman.

Exactly an hour later, Matsumoto appeared freshly dressed in her nurse's outfit. She knocked on the door of Hitsugaya's office and let herself in. Neither the doctor nor the patient were there yet. She busied herself tidying up the room, putting the loose sheets of paper and the like away. The door opened again, revealing a pretty young lady with her long black hair tied up in a loose pony tail. She was tall and lanky, a far cry from the young children that the doctor usually treated.

"You must be Kurosaki Karin-san, am I right?" Matsumoto asked as she pushed a stack of books off the couch and motioned for her to seat. "You're here because?"

"My idiot brother thinks I'm too obsessed with soccer or something and I'll fail all my classes since I spend quite a lot of time on the field." Karin replied, rolling her eyes as she crossed her legs. "He said that he knew of someone who would be able to 'cure' me of my addiction."

Matsumoto laughed. That sounded like the elder Kurosaki alright. Although she did not know him personally. (They worked in the same wing), she had heard about his insane ability to successfully execute an operation, no matter how hard it was. He was also very protective of his sisters, not allowing them to train in surgery as he deemed it too exhausting and trying. He wanted the best for them, since their father was what he called a 'joker' and would happily send the twins down the wrong path.

"Well then Karin-san, we'll see if Hitsugaya can do anything about your problem!" Matsumoto replied cheerily as the door opened, revealing the tiny doctor.

"Speak of the devil! Here he is! I'll let him do his thing." She said, grabbing another chair for her to sit and observe.

"Wait wait wait," Karin exclaimed, almost jumping out of the sofa. "That little kid there is a doctor?"

"I am not a kid, thank you very much." He said coldly, receiving a clipboard full of details from Matusmoto. In a stage whisper she added "He just turned 21. Vertical problems."

Karin snickered as Hitsugaya shot Matsumoto a cold glare.

"Karin-san, just to make it clear, today we'll try to change your mindset towards studying." Hitsugaya stated as he took a seat behind his desk. "Do you want to say anything before we begin?"

"Yep. I'm doing this because my brother won't leave me alone otherwise."

Hitsugaya sighed. Of all kinds of people he had to deal with, the unwilling ones are the worst.

"Please lean back and close your eyes. We'll be starting now anyway." He commanded. She did as told.

"Now, Karin-san, whenever you approach the field, you will have the urge to call- MATSUMOTO! SILENCE THAT INFERNAL RINGING SOUND!" His words punctuated by the shrill ring of his nurse's hand phone. He specifically told her before that it should be kept in the lockers. How she ever became a nurse, he had no idea. Her work ethic really needed some improvements.

"Sorry Hitsugaya-san!" She replied sheepishly. He gave a her a pointed look which said that he would be having some very strong words with her later. Fortunately Karin had not came out of her hypnosis or he would have skinned Matusmoto alive.

"As I was saying, when you have the urge to play soccer with your friends, you will instead want to have a group study." He said in a soothing voice.

"I'm going to count to 5, and when I count to 5, you will open your eyes and feel refreshed and ready to learn." He said after a few minutes of talking to Karin.

"1...2...3...4... and 5." And he snapped his fingers, breaking Karin out of her hypnotism.

"Do you feel refreshed?" Hitsugaya asked seriously, taking a stationery set out to record her answers.

"Meh. Same old same old. We're done right?" Karin replied quickly, pulling her hair band out to re-tie her hair.

"Yep, we've finished today's session. Come back again in 3 weeks for another session. And if you feel anything wrong, call the hospital."

"Will do." She yelled as she shot out of the room at break-neck speed.

The white haired prodigy swivelled around on his chair, glaring at Matsumoto. She gulped knowing she was in a lot of trouble. "What did I tell you about your hand phone 2 weeks ago?" He thundered.

Karin was taking the long way home. It brought her around the town's field where a group of middle-schoolers were kicking a ball around. She sighed as she sat across them, next to the river bank. The familiar feeling of wanting a ball between her feet was growing stronger as she thought about it. All of a sudden, she was overcome with the urge to call someone. She whipped out her phone, and almost mechanically, typed in the name 'Matusmoto'. There was no such contact and she frowned, one part of her wondering why she did that, the other telling her to call someone who can get her Matusmoto's number. She found herself listening to the dial tone.

In the hospital, Hitsugaya was making his afternoon rounds, checking on his patients. Despite the rough start to his day, he was feeling much better. He always felt good after checking up on them.

Matsumoto was hanging around one of the wards chatting with a patient when Hitsugaya popped his head in a few minutes later. She got to her feet immediately. It was her break and he wouldn't have called her if it were not a serious issue.

"Matsumoto, could you please come with me for a short while." His voice betrayed no emotion, and he turned around and stalked off.

She followed immediately, wondering what had happened. He led her to the call room where unanswered calls were transferred to the relevant department. Why on earth would he bring her of all people in here? Her question was soon answered when a man walked up to them, his face looking like he swallowed a lemon.

"87 missed calls and 22 voice mails for Doctor Hitsugaya and Nurse Matsumoto. From the same number" He said, irked. "Please pick up your calls next time, or stop giving out your line." Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. Which idiot on earth had so much free time to do such a ridiculous thing?!

When the man had nothing else to say, Hitsugaya stomped out of the room with as much dignity as he could muster. He would get to that person and give them a piece of his mind. Matsumoto was fuming as well. Idiots wasting her time!

The answering machine in his office was beeping like there was no tomorrow. He pressed the button for missed voice mails and it was the same message replayed 22 times. "Hey Matsumoto! Do you wanna do a group study with me?" It was Karin.

He did a double take. First of all, why would she call Matsumoto of all people, they hardly know each other. Secondly, Karin wanted to study?! He wanted to punch his fist in the air, but his dignity as a doctor grounded him firmly. His treatment had be some what successful. More importantly, how did the instructions get messed up? He was pretty sure that he said to call her _friends_ to study with her, not a nurse she had exchanged a few sentences with. How could that happen...

Matsumoto stood frighteningly still. She had a good inkling on what was happening in Hitsugaya's brilliant mind. She had made the connection herself as soon as she heard Karin's voice in the answering machine. Hopefully he doesn't remember the full happenings of the hypnotism session or she can kiss her job bye-bye.

"Uh Hitsugaya-san, I think I need to go, uh, help the front desk, um sort out the medicine?" Matsumoto spluttered, running out of the office at break neck speed as she saw the young doctor's face change from mildly angered to full on ice storm mode.

"MATSUMOTO RANGIKU!" Hitsugaya yelled at her retreating figure.

Several days later, a very embarrassed nurse paid a visit to Karin. Over the few days, she had so many times it was more practical to unplug the phone and answering machine than to take her calls.

When Matusmoto rang the door bell, a disgruntled looking girl wrenched it open. Days without being active really took the kick out of her. She really hated it. When she went near the field, she wanted to go and study. When she called Matsumoto to study with her, she wouldn't pick up and Karin wasted much time on those useless phone calls indeed.

"Hi Karin-chan!" Matusmoto greeted.

"Matsumoto-san? What are you doing here?"

"Ah... mind if I come in? I need to talk to you about something."

"Ah sure, come on in." Karin said, stepping back and plonking into a sofa. "Now what was it you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well... this is rather strange, but remember when you went to the hospital for the Hypnotism therapy?"

"Yeah! That thing's bullshit! I swear every time I get near a soccer field I end up wanting to go studying then I waste a truck load of time calling you and somehow that's gonna get me to study? I end up wasting the whole damn day and I can't play soccer." The girl crossed her arms angrily and glared at the nurse.

"You see... there was a mix up with the instructions..." Matsumoto trailed, not knowing how to continue. It was one thing being berated by her superiors about her mistakes, it was another admitting it to the patient involved.

"A mix up? Well what a great treatment it is." Karin snarked, observing her fingernails with great interest.

"The instructions weren't to call _me. _They were, um, to call Hitsugaya-san!" Matusmoto blabbered, the first thing on her mind coming out of her mouth. Oops.

"Hitsugaya-san? Isn't he the doctor?"

"Uh yes, yes. He said that, um, he had more free time than me and was willing to ah, tutor you! Toushiro's the youngest person in a long time to get his medical certification! He's very smart!" Matusmoto blabbered, trying to cover things up.

"I see, so my idiotic brother even got one of his friends to tutor me. Great. Thanks a lot though, Matusmoto-san."

"You're welcome Karin-chan. I've got to go now, bye." And Matusmoto left as quickly as she had come.

Back at the office, Hitsugaya felt a chill creep up his back. Oh what has happened now?

Matusmoto walked into their shared office, a bunch of books and papers hiding her from view as she quickly shuffled from one end of the room to another.

"Alright, what did you do Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked, pushing himself away from the table.

"Um.. I may or may not have told Karin-chan to call you if she ever wanted to group study?" Matusmoto dropped her things immediately and dashed out of the office.

"MATSUMOTOOOOO!" Hitsugaya yelled as their phone began ringing again.


	7. How to beat the heat 101: Bankai Edition

**Setting: Pre-canon**

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The captains of the Gotei 13 stood silently as Yamamoto-soutaicho droned on and on. Everyone was tired, irritable and just wanted the meeting to be over and done with. The weather wasn't helping. The Commander was not quite finished yet as there was something of relative importance that he must speak to his Captains about. He slammed his wooden cane down, gathering the 12 Captain's attention. Clearing his throat, he began.

"As Captains of the Gotei 13, we all have standards to hold up. Soul Society sees us as the ultimate defenders. You are the talented few that have achieved Bankai, so why has there been unauthorized usage of it when there are no enemies to be fought?" The old Commander said, opening his eyes. He stared impassively at his Captains, who were displaying various levels of guilt.

"What are your reasons?" He asked, indicating for Soi Fon to begin speaking.

"Omaeda just installed new heating systems at this time of year. I had to blast it off. Impractical and bloody useless." Shame that Omaeda had shunpoed away from her blast zone.

Yamamoto felt his reiatsu rising, though making no conscious effort to reign it in. Soi Fon was a free spirit, let her do what she wanted. Omaeda-fukutaicho has enough money to pay for damages, he reasoned.

"Ichimaru-taicho, what about you? "

The foxy captain only grinned, shrugging. " 'Twas with Ran-chan eating lunch 'n was super sunny. Left my umbrella at the barracks so used Shinso here ta grab it. I ain't no letting my Ran-chan walk back in that sun ya know."

A vein in his temple throbbed. So Bankais are now used to fetch umbrellas? How very, very useful, he thought. "So you used it to grab an umbrella when Matsumoto-fukutaicho's office was only just opposite." The Commander stated matter-of-factly.

"Exactly! Glad ta see that ya understand. Can't keep a lady waitin'" He added, with a hint of a grin.

Yamamoto only shook his head. If there were more people with Bankai, he would have replaced his captains a long time ago. He turned to Unohanna, waiting for her explanation.

Her smile sent slight shivers down his spine. Never mind, it probably was for healing purposes.

He turned to Kuchiki Byakuya, waiting to hear his reasoning when suddenly, Yamamoto felt a huge fluctuation of reiatsu from one of the captains standing before him.

Casting his gaze upon the offending Shinigami, he was surprised to see Hitsugaya Toshiro collapsed on the floor, ice forming claws and wings which was his Bankai. Unohanna immediately rushed to the boy's aid, chanting kido spells while the other Captains looked on. (Except for Kurotschi, who was eyeing him with glee)

Yamamoto flared up. "Unsheathing your sword in my presence without authorization is a capital offence Hitsugaya-taicho! You should be well versed in this rule as well as rule 429b states that..." He all but yelled at the still unconscious boy.

"Yama-jii," Kyoraku cut in, taking a step forward. "Hitsugaya-kun can't take the heat. It's the height of summer and your reiatsu keeps on increasing. He was bound to collapse from the heat anyway, being an ice elemental type. We all are too, espcially in this stuffy room!"

True to his word, all the Captains _did_ look hot and bothered. Komamura was panting inside his helmet, the metal thing making it worse. Apparently, his Bankai was conveniently put to use with an extra large fan that supplied his Shinigami with a light breeze.

Byakuya had used Senbonzakura too. He had forced the blades together to form a shade on top of his office, training grounds, and Manor. Too bad when he finally sheathed his sword, it was too hot to carry about.

Tosen's very convenient Bankai placed him in darkness. To a blind man like him it made no difference, but it was indeed much cooler. He found that he could even plod through some work.

By the time it was Hitsugaya's turn to confess his sins, he was up on his feet, though looking significantly paler. Since the start of this insane heat wave, he confessed, he had used his Bankai regularly to lower the temperature everywhere. Truth be told, without Hitsugaya and his ice-making and temperature-lowering abilities, all of Seireitei would have all collapsed from the heat. Keeping himself on his two feet took up a lot of energy. Add a nice side helping of the strongest fire Zanpakuto user's flaming reiatsu, he was as good as gone. He offered the Commander a sheepish look, and Yamamoto felt it impossible to stay mad at him for long.

Kenpanchi had no Bankai, hence, ironically, for once he was in no trouble. Kurotschi mumbled something about Science. Why he became a Captain Yamamoto did not remember. Perhaps breakfast was particularly agreeable for him that day. The last of the Captains, Ukitake, was once again in the 4th Division, for his long-standing illness. (Although Kyoraku knows that he faked this particular bout of illness so he could rest in the 4th's air conditioned rooms and skip a meeting at the same time)

"All these reasons you use your Bankai, it is to escape the heat?!" He roared, displeased. He found the heat pleasant, and wanted someone other than Hinamori to share the joy with him.

"What if the enemy can raise the temperature of his surroundings? Are you going to just collapse from the heat?" He gave the captains a look that spoke volumes.

"From now on, you will all have heat - resistant training with me. Every day. No excuses." He declared, as Hitsugaya fainted again.


	8. Buffets

**A/N: A bit of an author's note at the bottom :)**

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**No specific time frame, playing pretty loosely with canon. **

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In one of Yamamoto-soutaicho's exceedingly rare non-mission trips down to the Human world, he had made a stop by a popular restaurant that served "buffets". He had no idea what they were, and deciding as Captain Commander of the Gotei 13, he must find out. And so, stepping into a Gigai, he stepped into the restaurant.

Observing the humans around him, he concluded that a buffet was a self-serve dining cafeteria experience. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he should start eating soon. He got up from his seat and with as much dignity as he could muster having to collect his food himself (it wasn't even freshly prepared!) , he decided to give it a go. Taking a plate, he proceeded to pile his plate sky high with everything they offered. Cakes, meats, vegetables, why he took them all. The other diners gawked at the old man who was stuffing his plate full. 'Why surely he could not be so greedy?' The muttered among themselves.

Yamamoto disregarded their foolish comments. Mortals need not eat so much, they had no reiatsu to sustain. With great gusto, he finished his plate. It was went for another. And another. And following that yet another and another. Waiters masked their surprise at the frail older man who had a bottomless pit for a stomach. The manager grimaced, he wouldn't be making a profit out of Yamamoto; he might make a loss instead. Yamamoto on the other hand loved every moment of it. The food seemed to be calling him back to take more and of course he did. Who knows when he would be back in the world of the living?

7 full plates and many a glass of tea later, Yamamoto was very politely asked to leave, on the grounds that the restaurant would be closing soon. The old man vacated as asked, a content smile on his face. Yes, this cafeteria certainly put those in the Division's barracks to shame. He would have a talk with his Captains- the Shinigami's food should be at least on par with the Human's.

With his iron will and command over Captains who were obliged to obey him, Soul Society went through one of it's most trying times.

As soon as he stepped back into the First's offices, he had drafted out a new law. All the barrack kitchens would now need to prepare buffets for all Shinigami for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To emphasize his point, he even sent his Captains down to the World of the Living to visit the buffet. No one could see how the old captain commander could have drafted out a new rule based on some food.

Due to the new rule, a larger than ever budget had to be given to the kitchen staff. It wasn't so bad for the richer divisions, such as the First, Second and Sixth. Their commanding officers were rich in their own right and could afford to shell out the money needed to employ more cooks and buy more food.

The rest weren't so lucky. The division's cooks were already hard pressed to churn out a plate of food for each Shinigami on a normal day. Most Shinigami were never full, but they made the most out of their food. Now they had to dish out 4, or even 5, times more, since a buffet technically allowed one to take as much as he pleased.

To meet the new standards, the rank and file soldiers, and sometimes even the lower ranking Officers had to help in the food production. It was met with much disdain and annoyance. Who wanted to cook after a long day spent training?

Nevertheless, they all somehow pulled through the first month. But this peace would not last, for it was bound that something bad would happen.

It started out innocently enough, Matsumoto wanted to escape her paperwork prison and the kitchens were always in need of an extra hand.

As she stepped in, she was immediately tasked to watching over the soup, and when it has boiled, add in a jar of sauce. A harmless job, really. What can possibly go wrong? The main kitchen crew wondered, remembering the last time their Lieutenant tried to cook for them. They hoped they wouldn't die a red bean and spinach paste noodle death. (How that was possible when all Matsumoto was given was some sauce, they didn't say, but knowing her, pigs can fly if she really wanted them to. Too bad paperwork was harder than making pigs sprout wings)

For such an important Shinigami as Matsumoto, watching a pot boil wasn't terribly interesting or stimulating. Eh, why not play a drinking game? She wondered to herself, slyly removing the lid of a box that read 'Extra knives' and extracted a bottle of sake. Every time she saw a bubble appear on the surface of the soup, she would drink a gulp.

Within minutes the bottle of sake she held was nearly empty. With a scrowl, she took out a few more, not caring if anyone saw her. Those who did were too busy to tell her off.

15 minutes later, the Lieutenant was pleasantly tipsy, not quite drunk. The pot was bubbling over and the soup threatening to spill. With a tiny hiccup she realised she had better pour in that sauce. She reached out and grabbed the nearest bottle, failing to check it's contents before downing it in the pot. And her state of stupor, her mind didn't quite register anything. 'If I add this in the soup would taste better' She some how convinced herself, pouring in her whole collection of sake into the merrily bubbling pot.

When she was satisfied with her work, she declared she was going to take a bath and promptly left the kitchens.

It wouldn't have been so bad if the soup was allowed to be boiled a little longer as the alcohol would have evaporated, but as soon as she poured in the drink, another cook gave it a quick stir before putting it out at the buffet table.

Dinner for Hitsugaya was never very pleasant. Having to join the long snaking queues for food was taxing enough on his already short temper. The soup lines was always the shortest, and a bowl of soup was all he needed for a long night of paperwork. He ladled himself some soup, brought it into his office and downed all of it noiselessly before realising it had a distinctive alcoholic taste to it.

He felt his head spin. He was a light weight and he knew it. With a mumbled curse at whoever dared spike the soup, he put his head down and was put to a deep sleep that was part alcohol induced, part tiredness; oblivious to his division's antics.

The Shinigami of the Tenth could hold their alcohol better than their captain, but with alcohol in their systems, they too could behave like rowdy Eleventh Divisoners, and many petty fights broke out. When the whole division was somewhat collectively drunk, the mess it made was monstrous.

The dining hall no longer confined hundreds of drunk Shinigami as they spilled out into the streets of Seireitei. The crowd messed up each and every divison as they passed by. More alcohol was procured as the night wore on, nothing short of a few captains would stop them.

When word reach Yamamoto, he was not pleased and demanded to meet whichever officer of the Tenth that was not part of the 'parade'. To his great shock, Matsumoto turned up. Hitsugaya had been inebriated as well? And Matsumoto of all people was still relatively sober? He had half expected her to be leading the party.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho, who do you think is responsible for this?" He asked, staring her down.

"Ahh..." was the reply.

Yamamoto wasn't happy. He took his staff and pounded the floor with it in anger. Why were there such incompetent Shinigami in the Gotei 13?

"I will inform your Taicho of this, he will punish you as he sees fit." He declared. "Dismissed."

In the early morning, Hitsugaya found it strange that no one was in the office on time. The ones who managed to drag themselves out of bed were sitting dazed at their desks, in various states of hung-overness. The rest were sleeping off their drinks.

They, and the rest of Seireitei, were given a wake up call when the prodigy received word from the captain commander about Matsumoto's antics. Who wouldn't, when Spring had suddenly turned into Winter?

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**Author's Note** {replying to some comments}

**NatsuShinigami and ANIMEXMANGALOVER: **Thank you so much! So glad that people found my attempts at humor funny :D

**"Guest": **I have a confession to make...I don't ship Hitsuhina at all. If you want to rank who I ship Hitsugaya with, Hinamori is quite down there. Totally surprised that people liked how I wrote them. I'll totally think about writing them if I can find any inspiration for their kind of relationship. No promises though!

**To everyone else who has reviewed so far: **You all make me so so happy. I was checking my email notifications for review before my class started and I was grinning the whole day. Although I probably am not the best writer and I don't have very many fans (do I even have one lol) every single notification I get on this story makes me so so happy I don't really know how to say it. So big thanks and many warm hugs- you have my unconditional love.

**SPECIAL ****ANNOUNCEMENT**

For the month of June, I'll be updating once a week (or even sooner if I can write chapters faster!) because school's out and that means more time to spend being anime trash. Look out for some SWA action, Hitsu-karin angst, and a little drabble involving my favourite character (who surprisingly hasn't made much of an appearance here yet).


	9. Shinigami Women's Association's Woes

**After Aizen**

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"Arrrrrghhhhh!" Nanao screeched, pulling her hair. The Shinigami Women's Association needed funds and the next budget allocation was still half a year away! All their usual money making ways aren't doing well, and they need new ideas that would probably work quickly.

During the next meeting with SWA members, the topic was quickly brought up. "Candy candy candy!" Yachiru chanted. Nanao shook her head. They would never sell it since the pink devil would eat it all.

"Oooh how about we sell special limited edition pictures of the Captains and vice captains? I still have a lot of those when Hisagi-kun and Kira-kun modeled for me the last time!" Matsumoto asked, twirling her hair listlessly.

"No way! They're inappropriate!" Nanao cried, blushing red at the memory of the pictures.

"Eh, then what's left?" Matsumoto asked.

"We could sell Yoruichi-sama plush toys! I know where we can get them from." Soi Fon quipped.

"Plush toys in general then," Nanao jotted down.

"Chappy toys!" Rukia exclaimed from her corner. Nanao ignored her.

The room was silenced. They had used up all their good ideas before and now they had nothing left.

"We must not spend so much money next time!" Yachiru cried, pounding her fists on her table.

"But you spent most of the money on candy and toys!" Nanao cried, frazzled.

"Nemu-chan, can you please show them what you've developed?" Yachiru asked, turning to her 'replacement' vice president.

"Of course madame president," she replied obediently. After leaving the room for a bit, she returned with a soul candy dispenser, plain in design but had the words 'testing' marked on them.

"Ehhhh? What's that?" Rukia asked as Yachiru oped the bottle and a very normal looking green pill rolled out.

"This is our answer! Special mod-souls that everyone would want!" Yachiru cheered, passing the green pill around.

"Is it safe?" Nanao asked.

"Perfectly safe vice president-sama," Nemu assured, popping a pill into Nanao's mouth.

"Wait wha-" with a gulp, the pill slid down her throat and she collapsed.

"Opsies, forgot we can't eat soul candy in soul form!" Yachiru said, jumping to observer Nanao's prone body.

"But what's so special about it anyhow?" Matsumoto asked, unconvinced.

Yachiru let out a dark chuckle. "Nemu-chan, show them that video."

The screen behind Yachiru began playing a video of the mod souls who were left to look after their gigais, displaying all sorts of embarrassing out-of-character behavior. The real Matsumoto wanted to kill someone, preferably her gigai, seeing that it was making an embarrassment of herself. She may dress a little more revealingly than others, but she won't throw herself around like a common slut, despite common belief. A shiver went down her spine. Disgusting good for nothing science products!

"We'll mix these up with the usual dispensers passed to the soldiers, then record them in action. If they don't want us to distribute the videos, they can pay us some money." Nemu continued as she placed several boxes of the pills on the table.

"Ohhhh! Even better! We can even help people mess with their friend's mod souls for a fee!" Matsumoto enthusiastically agreed, catching onto the idea rather quickly despite witnessing first hand how terrible it can get.

Soi Fon and Rukia, shot each other looks of disbelief, even though they have never really met. People can be united through events such as these.

"Well?" Yachiru asked, leaning towards them.

A silent conversation passed the two ladies.

"Nii-sama must not be implicated in anyway!" Rukia said, "If Nii-sama is not involved, there's no problem."

"Likewise with Yoruichi-sama," Soi Fon quipped.

"Then it's settled! Commerce operation Soul Candy!" Yachiru yelled, throwing her tiny fist into the air. "Each one of you take a box of them and slip them in somewhere in your divisions!"

Just about as each lady got a box of the contraband and left, Nanao finally recovered, spitting out the pill with a resounding "NO WAY!"

Too bad no one was left to hear her.

* * *

**{Answering Reviews}**

**"Ichirukipls": **I think your suggestion's a good one so I'll be doing it :) Please look forward to it!


	10. Chapter 10

**Ship warning: ****Hitsugaya and karin**

**A/N: My first (and probably last) attempt at angst **

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**Playing loosely with canon, semi-AU**

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At 11, Kurosaki Karin was bursting with energy, a football always found between her feet. The game brought endless joy to her and her friends. Yet, one day when they had arrived at their usual spot for their game, they found that the field was occupied by a group of middle-schoolers that refused to leave even though they were intruding. The insult stinging her pride, she issued the ultimatum, play in a match to decided who should use the field. They agreed that next Saturday will be the match date. Their opponents were confident beating a bunch of elementary schoolers. Karin's gang wasn't so sure about kicking some senior ass. She assured them that they'd find someone to help them, perhaps her elder brother could lend some much needed power...

On her way home, a careless kick sent Karin's ball flying down the hill and into the path of a certain Hitsugaya Toushiro. He was on his phone as usual, typing a report. He picked up the ball and kicked it back, disappearing soon after. Karin thought little of the incident, other than that boy's pale complexion and sliver hair.

The next day on the same route back home with her friends, she saw the boy who helped her retrieve the ball and ran up to him to thank him. She then extended an invitation for him to join them in a game of soccer. He scoffed at the idea. He wasn't there to play games, there were powerful Hollows on the loose! But he didn't need to answer, it seems, for the raven haired girl's friends pulled her back, saying that he must be a gangster, or at least up to no good with his bleached hair and turquoise eyes.  
His snorted and walked off. So much for wanting him to play with them.

However, Karin was not to be deterred. Determined to prove his usefulness to them, she aimed a powerful kick at his retreating figure.

It was almost second nature for him the kick the ball back with a stunning flip and superior strength. Her friends stared at him in shock and awe, snapping out of their revive to clamour about him and squeal about his coolness. Smugly, Karin again asked if he could play with them. Just once, she pleaded. Before he could form an answer, his Soul Pager beeped, drawing his attention away. With an indifferent 'we'll see,' he ran off to where the Hollows were.

When the day for the match rolled around, Hitsugaya nearly wanted to join, but a rock hard sense of duty prevented him. After patrolling around for most of the morning, he was quite ready for Matsumoto to take over his job and he could get something to eat. However, instead of going to his temporary residence, his feet brought him to the field where Karin and friends were playing.

Honestly, Karin was worried. Her team was in every way inferior to their competitors. No help that the referee was biased to the opposing team. A shove by those cheating bastards had caused her to fall, her skin tearing. Pin pricks of blood were forming on the surface and it shone an angry red, slowing her down considerably. She had lost all hope when her sharp eyes cast upon the tiny figure of Hitsugaya approaching.

Half time was called and Hitsugaya, seeing the state Karin was in, swapped in to play. The tide turned and soon enough, the elementary schoolers had trumped over the bullies.

Lady luck was not smiling on them that day, as a particularly large Hollow appeared, attracted by two delicious souls. The reiatsu of the Hollow knocked everyone out, except for Hitsugaya and Karin, who were each figuring out the best way to escape with no casualties.

She sprung into action first, fueling her ball with reiatsu for her signature attack. This time her opponent was large enough for the attack to just glance off. The Hollow raised its fist and crushed it down with fatal strength to where the two were standing. Hitsugaya wasted no time, turning into soul form and purifying the Hollow with a quick slash of his Zanpakuto.

To Karin's eyes, the black Shihakusho of Hitsugaya's was identical to that of her brother's, especially when he left for his long 'training camps'. She asked him where her brother went, and he said he was training to become stronger, so he could protect everyone. Her face fell. It meant that he was putting himself in danger again.

Karin was a girl of many skins, she could pull expressions with frightening realism. She shrugged, pretending that it was no big deal. With a word of thanks, she bade Hitsugaya farewell, telling him that he could play with her if he ever felt like it. He snorted with all his Captainess, telling her he was busy.

At age 17, Karin was living the high life. Her last year at college before deciding which University to go to, she's the envy of many of the girls, and a fair number of the guys. Head of the school's football team and well respected(or was it feared?) by all, it wasn't hard to see why people would be jealous enough to want to see her fail.

It started off innocently enough, with Karin being invited to one of the more popular girl's pool parties. She had declined, saying that she was needed at the clinic. Her father had other ideas. He told her to go to the party; teenagers her age partied long and hard into the night. Even Yuzu felt that Karin needed to relax, and the party would be perfect for her.

The real reason why she didn't want to go, was that Hitsugaya was once again stationed at Karakura town for a period of time. Friday nights were usually when the met up by the soccer field to catch up and just kill Hollows together. Her family standing united behind a single cause was a force to be reckoned with and as a one woman army, she was swept away with the enthusiasm.

And so, that was how she turned up at that girl's front door clad in a pretty bikini (thanks to Yuzu) and shorts. It was far too revealing for her tastes, but what could she do? Her eccentric father threatened to kick her out of the house should she come back before midnight. He might actually be serious this time, she reflected.

The party was in full swing when Karin arrived. People were dancing to the beat of a new pop song, while others were lounging around the pool, drinks flowing freely.

Inwardly she groaned. Her classmates were already stupid when sober, don't even think about their behavior when drunk. She slunk off silently to the kitchens, where she assumed that there would be no one. It was much quieter than the rest of the house for sure, but there were still a fair amount of people inside talking and drinking.

Picking a nice deserted corner, Karin made plans to be antisocial and leave exactly at 12. She wasn't happy at all.

A drunken level mate bumped into her. All the rage and tension she was bottling up was unleashed and she yelled at him with the full backing of her years as the football team's fearsome commander. Instead of running away scared, he just waved it off, telling her to take a break. He dragged her by her waist to where the hostess and her friends were gathered. Joy, she muttered. She was in less of a mood to provoke a fight with a drunkard.

"Oh my, Karin! You actually came!" The girl hiccuped, walking over to Karin with a strange concoction in her hand, a deck of cards in another. "Play poker with us Karin!" She asked, sending her large puppy eyes. Personally, she looked like a drowned rat. Since playing poker would be better than standing alone, might as well join, she reasoned, what harm could a drunk girl do anyway? The girl smiled, and a game was formed.

The first round saw one of the guys loosing, and with a whoop, his shirt promptly disappeared. Uh oh, Karin did not like where this was going.

"We're playing strip poker?" She asked.

"There's no other kind of poker we play! Duh!" The girl replied, downing her drink as she began the next round.

"I think I'll skip this," Karin muttered as she got out of her chair. She was promptly pulled back by the people seated next to her.

"No one leaves till I say so." The girl said smugly. Her trap had been set and the victim just walked in.

With a sigh, Karin plonked back down and prayed to all the gods for a good game (even the death gods that she disliked for stealing her brother.) With luck, she'd have a good game and not loose any part of her already skimpy attire.

On the other side of Karakura town, Hitsugaya was waiting impatiently for the girl to show up. It has already been an hour or so and he was starting to worry. She wasn't at home, that was for sure, or he would have felt her reiatsu. Neither was she in trouble or he would have felt her reiatsu flare. She had simply disappeared off the grid and he was uneasy about it. When he strained his sensing abilities, he could feel the slightest touch of her reiatsu in one of the houses at the opposite edge of town, surrounded by others.

He shook his head. So she had ditched him for a gathering of sorts, most likely a party. Somewhere in his mind, the childish and immature part, wanted to storm into the party and then drag Karin out so they could hang out. The logical side of his brain stomped the idea out. Karin was already 17, she could take care of herself.

The Captain chided himself, and turned to leave, when at the edge of his senses, he felt her reiatsu pulse with great intensity. His attention arrested, he stretched his senses further and felt a fain unease settle about Karin's signature. He also noted that the people in her vicinity had a drunken pulse to their reiatsus.

Without missing a beat, he slipped into shunpo, covering the 15km or so quickly.

Many rounds of poker later, Karin had lost her shorts and shoes. According to that girl, next to be gone is her top. In comparison to the others, she was doing much better. One guy and two girls had been ousted since they had nothing left to remove when they lost. It was a scaring experience for Karin when pants started flying. But she couldn't get out. Every time she made a move to run, someone would grab her and shove her back. After trying many times, she just gave up.

At the end of the round, Karin had tasted the bitter medicine of defeat. She couldn't believe it. All around her, many school mates had gathered to watch the game go by.

"Take it off! Take it off!" They chanted, closing in on her. When she made no move to do so, some of the crowd started taking matters into their own hands, pulling at the strings of her top. Instinctively, her reiatsu flared, hoping someone would sense it and think that she needed help. Anyone really. She kicked and struggled, but 3 large men were more than her match. Kicking and swearing, she was carried on top a makeshift table/stage.

All eyes were on her, and that vile girl grinned maliciously as she made a pass at Karin's top. "Don't worry, no one would take interest in a flat-chested girl," she muttered as she started undoing the feeble strings. "This is payback, Kurosaki Karin." She sneered, her work done. Her fingers were pinched where the strings connected, the only force keeping the top in place.

Below the 'stage', people were whipping their phones out. Some things are too good to be missed they thought.

Wriggling in horror, Karin prayed and hoped someone, anyone, would distract that bitch from her.

With a sickly sweet smile that was not at all drunken, she let go of her hand.

Karin shut her eyes tight, hoping it was some drunken hallucination of her own. In slow motion, she could hear the cheers of the crowd getting louder and louder, she could see the flashing of cameras behind her closed eyelids. It was most unbearable.

Hitsugaya wasn't a captain for nothing. He had expertly landed on the roof of the building where Karin's reiatsu was and focused his attention on locating Karin. It wasn't hard, for she was being paraded like a piece of meat on a table. 3 men were holding her and girl with dyed hair was advancing on Karin, blocking her from his view. He scooted around the roof, careful not to fall off. When he had clear view of the situation, he felt her reiatsu rise to a level that equalled to her brother's. His senses were clogged with her fear.

His eyes narrowed as he readied to shunpo in. As that girl released her hand that was holding the shreds of Karin's decency together, Hitsugaya's eyes widened as the scene began to unfold. He knew what was going to happen. Not wasting time, he ran like never before, hoping he could reach her.

He was just a split second too late to prevent the cloth from falling. But, he was fast enough to grab her off the table and shunpo a good distance away before any of her classmates could even comprehend how a top could be lying on the table and no owner seen.

Hitsugaya put her down on one of the roofs of a short block of flats when he was sure they were a good distance away. Nobody would likely see her there.

Tears were pricking the edge of her vision. Her prayers had been answered. He suddenly turned away from her so that she had a pleasant view of the 'ten' that adorned his Haori. She blushed hard, crossing her hands over her now bare chest as she turned her back to his.

"Toushiro..." She warbled. "I..."

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho." He snapped instinctively. Karin recoiled slightly, as if having being whacked on the wrist.

"Kurosaki Karin, you are the biggest idiot I have ever had the misfortune to meet," Hitsugaya began, slipping into the special voice reserved for telling off his ill-behaved subordinates."What in the name of Yamamoto-soutaicho were you doing up there? It isn't a strip show if you weren't informed! And you know, drunk idiots are the worst idiots. But even Matusmoto doesn't get up to this when she..."

"I got it," she said snapped, hugging herself tighter as a cold breeze brushed past her.

He felt a pang of remorse lecturing her when she's in such a bad state, but she caused him worry and he wanted to get some of it out of his system. Instead of continuing his lecture as planned, he shocked both of them by sliding off his Haori and tossing it to her, muttering about girls and decency.

Hitsugaya grew a cm or 2 in the few years that passed, but the Haori was still comically short on Karin's lanky frame. She pulled it on anyway.

"Ne, Toushiro," she said after a long awkward silence, "thanks for...saving me I guess..." she smiled in spite of her situation.

"Just don't do such idiotic things in the future alright?"

"Yeah yeah..." She smiled ever so slightly into the night sky.

At 19, Karin was ready to see the world. Doors upon doors opened up for her, but she never really cared for them. She was to fly to England to study medicine at a renowned university. It was great, but not really what she had hoped to achieve.

Ever since that unfortunate incident 2 years ago about her top, there had been a wall between her and Hitsugaya. Conversations were awkward during the few times they exchanged words. There were a few occasions where he dropped in to settle some business and Karin had been none the wiser. When she found out, she was raving mad and wanted a go at him, but he was long gone. She fumed for a good long time before someone commented about her unusual behaviour which caused her to reflect. What sparked _that_ off?

Dropping subtle questions around Yuzu to ask of her opinion, she drew the conclusion that she may have at some point like the tiny captain. Why she could not say, but one (un)helpful magazine suggested that it was a sort of hero-complex. Hitsugaya had saved her from all sorts of situations before and he was generally a nice guy, albeit lacking in the height department, she mused.

She didn't really get a chance to think about her feelings for anything ever since her idiot of a brother got himself killed. His death brought a grimace to her face every time she thought of it. It wasn't even vaguely heroic. In all his university student glory, he fell asleep in his car with the exhaust on. He didn't even realize he had died until someone called the police and the nearest Shinigami on patrol wanted to give him a Konso.

He was now up in Soul Society, setting up for a new life there. Between helping with minor Hollow extermination and her studies, Karin became an unofficial nurse at the clinic, dealing mostly with Hollow wounds and infections that were passed off as bad bruises or burns. Since Ichigo died the Hollows were becoming a bigger problem. With no dependable Shinigami dealing with it, Karin took it upon herself to help dispatch any Hollows she happened to chance upon.

When a messenger barged into the Captain's meeting one afternoon carrying the message that the Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo had died, all present were dumbfounded. "How?" was the main question on everyone's tongue. When the conditions of his death were revealed, they had snorted with derision. Trust him to die like that. Hitsugaya's train of thought, however, was drifting towards how the Kurosakis were dealing, especially a certain raven haired girl that had snagged his attentions.

Yamamoto, being the wisest, had foreseen some of the problems that would have arisen due to the loss of a competent Shinigami. Hitsugaya and Matusmoto were shortly dispatched to help with any problems that would surface.

Winter came early for Karin as she picked up the distinctively ice-cold reiatsu of Hitsugaya, and a female's whom she assumed to be Matsumoto. She had been packing for her trip to England, while the rest of the family were pretending to be extremely sad about the loss of Ichigo.

An hour later, Hitsugaya and Matusmoto clad in their gigais dropped in to "visit". Ichigo's soul had already been sent to Seireitei via a specially modified Senkaimon. While Matusmoto and the other Kurosakis were discussing about other matters, Hitsugaya gave them the slip and went to the roof. He had been the most worried about her as she loved her brother dearly and wanted the best for him, but was still distrustful of Soul Society as a whole.

"Kurosaki," he acknowledged, sitting next to her as they baked under the afternoon sun.

"Ne, Toushiro, why're you here?" She mumbled listlessly.

"Since your idiot brother got himself killed, Matusmoto and I have been sent to ensure Karakura doesn't get run over by Hollows. We need to find someone decent who can help with Hollow dispatchment." He said, wiping the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We're seriously considering training you so you can help with the problem in the long run." Karin immediately turned to face him. A childish delight flashed across her features, making the corners of her mouth turn up in euphoria. It had been a long stand-off between her and Soul Society. She had always wanted to learn the arts that make a Shinigami, but they always refused to allow her to be trained. Living beings shouldn't be involved in Soul Society matters they had always said.

But her happiness soon disappeared, replaced by a look of sadness and confusion.

"Toushiro, can I ask you something?" She said, standing up and pacing up and down the roof.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been forced to do something you don't really want to, but you should do it because it's the best for everyone's interest?"

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to answer no, but he remembered the conditions that led to his admittance into the Academy as a young boy. He remembered the forlorn face of his grandmother as she sent him on his way, at her insistence no less.

"Yes." He said, not giving voice to what was on his mind.

"What did you do?"

"I did what I should," he carefully worded, "if not I would have caused some irreversible damage."

"Toushiro, I've been offered to go to England to study medicine," She started, her voice betraying no emotion. "But I want to stay here and help Otosan and Yuzu with the clinic, and help kill Hollows." She continued, turning to face the main road that gave a good view of Karakura Town. "I don't know what to do," she said softly.

"Somehow, either way you won't be truly content." Hitsugaya said, ignoring the sudden churn of emotions at the thought of Karin leaving.

She let out a cold laugh, which made Hitsugaya uneasy; how could someone bursting with life sound so dead?

"You're right Toushiro, I don't want to go to England, but I know I won't be happy just staying and helping with the clinic. But studying to be a doctor is well respected, and the pay is good...I can help Outosan, since he's the only fully trained doctor and we've been getting more patients then ever. Yuzu's already training to be a nurse, she's interning at the local hospital you know."

"But," he prompted.

"But I don't know what to do. I want to go see the world and explore it, but I don't want to be a doctor. Otosan and Yuzu were really happy when they found out I could go to England... they'd be crushed if I was to blow it away for, what? An unstable career as a football player?" She almost yelled, her voice cracking towards the end. "I don't know Toushiro, this is so frustrating!" She kicked the air forcefully.

"Life's short, Kurosaki. Do what you want to, you've got time if you want to study." Hitsugaya began, "I don't think anyone would mind if you want to forsake that scholarship for whatever else you may want to do."

Karin nodded and slipped down to sit next to Hitsugaya.

"And if Hollows are a reason as to why you don't want to go, I assure you that worse comes to worse, I'll stake out here to take them as they come. They're not supposed to be the worries of living humans in the first place."

"So you're saying that I should do what I want to do?" Karin asked again.

"I'm saying do what your heart feels right." He said with conviction. "If your heart is decided, even if someone points a sword at you, you'd still go down that path. If you pick a path that leaves no regrets, maybe it's the wrong path because there is always two sides to a coin." He mused, more to himself than anything.

"But no matter what path you'd choose, you've got my support," he muttered quietly enough for her to think she heard him, but softly enough for him to deny saying it.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, watching the people and the town carried on with it's existence, until...

"Taicho! Don't do things with Karin-chan where everyone can see!" Matsumoto's voice floated up to them from the driveway of the house.

He almost fell off the roof in shock. Karin burst out in embarrassed laughter, denying it fervently.

"MATSUMOTO!" He yelled turning a bright shade of red.

A week later, Karin had made up her mind. She would go to England to study medicine, but join the UN as humanitarian aid and travel the world. Hopefully, in a few years, she would come back to Karakura and join her father and Yuzu at the clinic.

Just a day before she was due to fly off, she informed him of her decision, oblivious to the turmoil in his heart. It felt like some pushed a dagger into his stomach and took their own sweet time removing it. But outwardly, he congratulated her on making a firm choice, promising to try to keep in touch with her.

For some people, 27 is an awfully young age to die. For Karin, it wasn't a problem, coming to terms with her death. She admittedly realized that if she truly wanted to prolong her life, she could have avoided doing to that war torn county as part of the humanitarian aid group. No one could have foreseen that a stray bomb would fall close to the hospital they were practising at. Death was unavoidable.

To the Shinigami on duty at that area, it was a trouble more than anything. Rookies like him were tossed into these kind of situations to gain experience quickly. And so, without caring who Karin really was, he sent her to Soul Society without a second glance.

Hitsugaya was debriefing his officers when a cold chill suddenly gripped him, causing him to stop in his tracks. At that split second, he racked his brains wondering what could have cause his body to react in such a way. He could not come up with a possible scenario that did not involve Karin... No, she's fine, she's not dead. He reassured himself, continuing on as if nothing happened to him.

In the privacy of his office, with nothing but piles of reports to distract him, his thoughts wandered to the well-being of Karin. "Where is she?" He mumbled under his breath, sifting through the papers dotting his work space. Finding the haphazardly written piece of scrap paper in Karin's doctor scrawl, he scanned it, his eyes resting on the date. She should be in the Middle East, if she followed the timetable. Her tour would end and she would be back safely in Karakura, treating patients along side her family. He could pull an excuse to visit them then.

Folding up the paper and carefully placing it between the budget reports and damage reports, he made a mental note to retrieve it. That was when he felt it, the soft pulse of Karin's reiatsu. He shook his head. It was gone. It had been a long day and now he was imagining Karin's presence. If he told anyone about it, especially Matusmoto, it would have sounded like a love-sick school boy, which by all accounts he was that feeling aside, he picked up his writing brush, and continued to tackle the mountain of work stacked in front of him.

With luck characteristic to the Kurosakis, she had landed in East Rukongai, first district. The surroundings were so different it hurt. The world was going out of focus. _Stop it Karin, you're going into shock._ The events of her death had not fully sunk in, and she remembered each horrifying detail with full clarity.

When souls go to Rukongai, they lose their memories bit by bit. It varies from soul to soul, but it takes on average 3 months for their memories to become hazy. In 4 months, they don't remember anything but their names, she recalled Hitsugaya telling her once. The fact was like a punch to the stomach. She had about 3 months to contact someone, anyone, before she became a shell.

Find Hitsugaya, or find Ichigo. That was her sole purpose. Dusting herself off, there was only one place to go. Seireitei.

She wandered along the dirt road nearest to her, hoping she could find someone to put her on the right path. Although the first district is geographically closest to Seireitei, tens of kilometres separated the two lands. The path she had chosen led through the markets of a particular district. She approached the nearest stall holder to ask for directions. He grunted a reply, pointing her to a shady looking path. "Are you sure?" She asked, but the man had insisted that it was the right way to go if she wanted to reach within the next few days. Bidding her thanks and farewell to the store holder, she set herself down the walkway.

Hours slowly flew by as Karin navigated the forest that the path led through. Streams flowed freely and there were edible-looking berries, allowing the girl to satisfy her hunger for a short while. When night was about to fall, she could see the tips of some buildings beyond the forage of leaves, renewing her with hope and energy. A tall sturdy tree became her bed for the night as she found two intersecting branches to sleep on. Closing her eyes, her sleep was filled with meaningless dreams.

A sudden, putrid stench filled the air around her as she was jolted out of her sleep sometime in the early morning. She narrowed her eyes as she fought the urge to curl up and sleep some more. Through out her trek the previous day, she had found that the reiatsu signatures of the various scenery mingled freely with her usual five senses; it was almost as if she had gained a new sixth sense. The putrid smell was distinctive to Hollows, but the smell that was assaulting her nose was clearly not of that nature. Focusing her eyesight in the still dark morning, she made out the figures of two men who smelt like they had never bathed since the beginning of time, steadily approaching her.

Her fight or flight instincts kicked in. The most sensible thing was to wait it out in the tree, hoping the men do not notice her and she could be on her merry way. Some thing in her told her it was not the case, as the men approached the tree she was resting in. She pretended to still be fast asleep as one of the men began climbing the tree. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as the man crept closer and closer. She fought the urge to beat the man senseless, but bidded her time. When he was in a precarious position where one swift kick could send him tumbling, she did as such. The man flew down the tree and landed on his arm awkwardly. His companion looked up warily.

Great, now she was stuck on a tree, cornered. She cursed her stupidity. She should have had first planned an escape route before trying to harm anyone. Thinking quickly, she saw three options before her. The first was to jump off the tree and try to out run the other guy and hoped the man with the broken arm could not join the chase. The second was to jump to the next tree which was about a few meters away, and the last was to wait it out until the men grow tired of chasing her and leave.

Fate had a strange way of working as help arrived in a very interesting form. Another wave of horrible smells engulfed her senses, and it was no doubt the tell tale sign of an approaching Hollow. Hollows were physically huge and even at her vantage point, she saw no good advantage. Joy, she muttered. Two enemies to take care of. At the rate she was going she wouldn't reach Seireitei within the next few years. The sun was finally starting to rise, and in the distance, she could hear and see the Hollow approaching from 200 meters away, but it was moving fast.

She glanced down at the men below her who were oblivious to the latest threat; they were at the base of the tree discussing how to reach Karin. When she glanced back up, the Hollow had moved closer, and it was charging ahead like a bull, trees that were obstructing its path falling down. She estimated about half a minute before the ravaging beast would arrive. Next tree or the men below? 20 seconds now and she had no answer. 10 seconds to go, and she wondered if that was how she would die a second time. 5 seconds. _I'll take my chances with the men_, she reasoned and slid down the tree as quickly as she could and ran as far as she could get. Just in the nick of time as well as the Hollow completely destroyed the tree that she had occupied for the night.

The Hollow stopped and let out a roar, turning its attention to Karin, now that the two men she had earlier feared were gone. Freezing up in shock, she had completely forgotten the first principle about Hollows- their attention was always on the closest person with the most reiatsu. As it honed in for the kill, she grabbed the nearest object, which in this case was a rock. A familiar sensation coursed through her powerful right leg as she packed as much power as she could muster into the rock. With a loud yell, the rock was sent flying. The aim was off, but it managed to land a crack on its mask. It roared again, enraged as it bore down on her. Rolling out of the way, she swore like a seasoned pirate. The attacker's claws were lodged firmly in the dirt. Hitching up the skirts of her Yukata, she ran.

Ever so often, she would turn back and witness with great weariness that the Hollow had managed to pry his claw out from the dirt. It was wandering around aimlessly, no doubt looking for her. She picked up her pace as the landscape blurred out of view, the buzzing sensation around her right leg growing stronger. Stopping for a while to catch her breath, she could no longer sense the Hollow's putrid reiatsu and breathed a sigh of relief, carrying on forward at a normal pace.

That was until she walked head first into a Shinigami. With a groan of pain from both parties, they fell comically onto the forest floor, the bald Shinigami's companion bursting into peels of laughter.

"What the..." The Shinigami muttered, rubbing his head in annoyance as he stood back up.

"Yes mister I-know-where-the-Hollows-are Ikkaku?" Yumichika spluttered between mouthfuls of air.

"Watch where you're going next time you little... Ichigo?" The confused third seat asked taking in the female in front of him.

"Ichigo's my brother," Karin supplied, as Yumichika looked on with a weird expression. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"Ichigo's sister eh? No wonder you have similar reiatsu signatures," Ikkaku said, twirling his sword around. "Heard he went to Hueco Mundo for some top secret mission, he's not going to be around for a while kiddo." Karin's face fell.

"Then, what about Toushi-... I mean Hitsugaya-taicho? Do you know where he is?" She asked again.

"Ah that short one ," he snorted, "he's probably in Seireitei. Later when we're done, we can take you to him. Wonder if we can get Ichigo to fight us or something since we helped his kid sister." He added in an undertone to Yumichika, which Karin caught. She landed a swift kick to both his ankles then acted as if nothing had happened. Yumichika broke into a huge grin.

"Right the little brat you are," He snarled, using his the sheath of his sword to whack Karin from the sides. She hissed in pain, retaliating with a kick of her own that was deflected easily. Ikkaku wore a grin that could match Kenpachi's as he made to attack. With a mighty sigh, Yumichika stepped in the middle of their scuffle, separating the two.

"Ikkaku, that was not beautiful at all, attacking a defenceless girl like that! Besides, you don't want Hitsugaya-taicho to turn you into an ice statue. Although you won't be ugly per se, it is not beautiful to have you melt all over the division." He gave him a reproachful look. "And you, Kurosaki, not looking where you're walking is not beautiful either," this time giving Karin the look. "Or do you want to be sent to your boyfriend in a box?"

"WE'RE NOT DATING FOR GODS SAKE!" Karin yelled, blushing bright red at the comment.

"Well that's not what Matsumoto-fukutaicho says anyway." He muttered, turning around and gesturing for both of them to follow him.

It was evening time when Hitsugaya felt her reiatsu again, this time closer to him than before. It was no mistaking it this time, he could sense it clearly and strongly. Worn out and tired, but still her's. Focusing on it more, he sensed two other reiatsus with her, the third and fifth seats of the Eleventh Division if he was not wrong. Alarmed, he flew out of his office in a flurry, only pausing to yell instructions to one of his division members to inform Matsumoto to take over the command.

In a flash, he shunpoed right to the edge of the East Gate. He arrived just a bit behind the odd trio, where Ikkaku and Karin were bickering about something, and Yumichika was patting his hair absent-mindedly. His gaze flickered to Karin, giving her a once over as she spun around, recognizing his reiatsu. With a yelp, she ran up to him and crushed him in hug which he returned stiffly, her travel companions hiding laughter behind their sleeves.

"I died." Karin said bluntly. Hitsugaya nodded, mainly from shock that Karin of all people he would see appear in Soul Society. "Follow me back to the Division," he muttered, prying himself from her embrace. Nodding once to Ikkaku and Yumichika, he added, "Thank you for escorting Karin to Seireitei. I will put in a word of commendation with Zaraki-taicho. You may return to your duties." They both snorted. "Join the Eleventh when it's your turn eh, Karin-chan?" Yumichika smiled as they bowed to the Captain and walked off.

In his surprisingly warm office, Hitsugaya wordlessly ushered her into the small side bathroom. He passed her one of Matsumoto's spare Shihakushos to change into as he muttered something about tea. When she stepped out again, cleaner and fresher, he was looking out the window behind his desk. She noted that the panes were starting to freeze over. Karin shivered as the temperature noticeably dropped, pulling the loose fabric tighter. After a long silence, Hitsugaya spoke first, asking her to take a seat on the other side of his table, stacks of work separating them. He sighed, pushing the steaming cup of tea towards her as he made an effort to reign in his feelings. When was the last time he had lost control to such a degree?

"Tell me," he began, "how did it happen? You were supposed to be safe!" He grabbed a brush and a form, filling it up mechanically as he refused to look at her.

"It's not my fault!" Karin said defensively, taking a sip of the tea.

He snapped, literally. The brush broke with a loud cracking sound, splattering ink all over the form he was filling. Looking straight up at her with a glare Byakuya would be proud of, he intoned again, "What the hell happened Kurosaki?"

She stiffened in her seat, her mind selectively bringing her through the worst moments and feelings of the last 3 days. The shock and trauma of it all catching up to her, tears started streaming down her face as she vigorously beat herself up for crying. But she couldn't stop. Hitsugaya dropped the glare almost immediately, a look of panic flashing across his face. Karin, the strongest and brashest person he had ever had the luck to meet was sitting right in front of him, having a mental break down.

He stood up alarmed, crossing the space between them in a few huge strides as he stood awkwardly to her side as she furiously mopped up her tears with the back of her hand. He reached out a tentative hand to touch her shoulder, the girl jerking up her head in surprise. "I'm fine." She sniffed tiredly. The snark and bite she was famous for had disappeared.

"Karin, we'll talk about this later. Right now you'll need to rest." He grabbed her gently by the arm, leading her out of the office. Before her could take a few steps, she wrenched her arm out of his grip.

"Ichi-nii, I need to tell Ichi-nii." She murmured to herself, swaying slightly on her feet. "And I can walk by myself."

"You can tell him later." Hitsugaya said, steadying the raven haired girl as she almost fell asleep on her feet. With another tired scowl, she pushed his assistance away, walking towards the door. A man at the end of his patience, the young Captain muttered an apology as he cast a weak spell to knock her out. With a shaky sigh, he carried her to the sofa, tossing a blanket over her fragile frame as he sat back down at his desk, keeping one eye on the unconscious Karin, the other focused on the reports he had to go through.

6 months after her death, and she had enough wits about her to admit her to the Shino Academy. Her entrance exam had been a bit of a mess, blowing up the testing room when she was asked to show them her reiatsu control abilities. Despite that, she had managed to snag a place in the second class.

Earlier in the morning, the rest of the cohort had been formally inducted into the school, their lessons starting the next day. This was the reason why instead of tackling some very thick and very important forms, he was helping to bring boxes of belongings to the Academy dorms. It was a strange sight, a short captain carrying boxes as large as he was and a black haired girl holding a few bags shunpoing around (he regretted teaching her that skill on hindsight). Never had anyone seen one of the most respected Shinigami of his time being used as moving service, Hitsugaya thought wryly as he trotted along the street. Karin had insisted that he shouldn't shunpo to the dorms as the sudden movements might cause her things to break. Hitsugaya thought it was because she was a slave driver. Slaver driver she might be, he admitted; he was going to miss her.

When Karin's letter of admittance had been delivered to his office, he was both happy and sad. In the few months she was with him, she had proven much more useful than his skivvying Lieutenant. She ingrained herself pretty quickly into the tightly woven fabric of the 10th, yelling and screaming her way through. She was brash, rude and driving rings around his seated Officers who had no idea what to do with her. She took to Zanjutsu like a fish to water, soundly beating up all the unseated soldiers. In the rare moments where the captain had deigned to take a break, his attention would wander to the training field, watching Karin carefully with a critical eye.

As a captain, he saw the many mistakes she had made, but what plagued his thoughts most often was how Karin moved, the delicate steps that she took to evade a blow. The way her ponytail would whip about her face as she pivoted to strike at her opponent, the glisten of sweat that coated her skin, making her glow with a goddess-like beauty... And that was usually when he would catch himself and sternly force those sinful thoughts aside and get back to work.

The last of the boxes had been successfully delivered and unpacked in the small dorm room that Karin would occupy. He bade her goodnight and shunpoed back to his division, already missing her boisterous presence as he forced himself to prepare for another all-nighter.

2 years had quickly flown by, Karin now preparing to enter the third year of her schooling. She had thrown herself into her studies, her reputation as the Ichigo's sister and Hitsugaya's girlfriend preceding her (although she had tried to deny that they were dating, no one listened to her). Since she was so well connected, there were more than a good number of boys and girls that wanted to get close to her. Despite it, the one boy she developed a liking for never offered anything more than friendship to her. He was in her class, ranked just a few points ahead of her. They were rivals in studies, but outside of academics, they were fast friends who shared a passion for athletics.

In-spite of his busy life as a captain, Hitsugaya religiously made time every few weeks to ask Karin out for lunch so they could catch up. He missed the days when they were close friends. It made him a little sad to think she had forgotten about their friendship every time his invitations were kindly rejected with a hastily scribbled note that she had some major exam or class to prepare for. It made him almost jealous of her classmates. When they finally had a chance to eat together, Hitsugaya had to do a double take as the girl that was standing in front of him was certainly not the Karin he sent off to school.

This girl, no, this ghost, of Karin was looking thinner than she should be. When it came to ordering, she refused to eat more than one tiny portion of the food even though it was her favourite dish at her favourite restaurant.

"Karin," he asked, "what's the problem?"

"Oh? Nothing really... it's just that I heard he likes really thin girls, and if I eat less, I can be thin too." She murmured, pushing the fried pieces of meat around her plate.

After some prodding, the white haired boy managed to glean that his friend had cast her affections on her classmate. When he asked why on earth she would do something like that for him, her reply made his frozen heart crack into shards. "It's because when you like someone, you'd try your hardest for them."

After that luncheon, both of them carried on with their respective lives. Hitsugaya never felt quite the same after her confession. Even Matsumoto noticed the change in his demure, describing him as "a sad, heartbroken boy who has felt the pain of his first heartbreak". That caused him to snap back into his former self, scolding her roundly for ever suggesting such a thing. Matusmoto didn't whine and plead for him to give her a break, but instead patted him lightly on the head and told him to look for her if things got too rough. He scoffed and buried himself in his never ending work, but his heart and attention was never there.

Several long days later, he was leading the division's seated officers through a round of sparring, he himself taking on 2 or 3 of them at a time. On normal days, it would be a mild challenge for him to over power them, but during that session, he wasn't his normal self. A blow that he should have easily deflected tore the skin off his hand, a trickle of blood resulting from the wound. His mind instantly cleared, the throbbing pain of his injury over powering all his other thoughts. It had been years since he shed blood during a fight. It was enough for him in that short span of time to win his match, fighting much more decisively than he had before.

Post fight, he examined the wound in the privacy of his office. It had already crusted over and was healing slowly on its own. As he wondered how on earth he could have sustained damage during such an exercise, a part of his mind realized that his thoughts were not with Karin at all. In fact, when he was injured, he only remembered two things from it. The first was the shock from the unexpected hit, and the second, a most primitive instinct to destroy whoever did that to him. And it shamed him that he wanted to feel that again, that wild show of emotion that could drown out every and anything else. And so he picked up a new, dangerous fighting style.

When he wasn't at his table sorting out his papers, he was at the training field, hacking and slashing up everyone who wanted a go at him. The pattern was the same all the time. He would play with his opponent for a while, tempting him with sides left wide open. When his luck ran out and he was injured, he would pounce back with vigor, slashing his sword like a mad man with no plan. But due to his overwhelming strength, he always managed to win his spars.

Day in day out, he sustained more injuries than was healthy for him. Despite his Lieutenant's countless attempts to make him go to the Fourth for medical treatment, he just brushed her aside and paid no attention to his wounds. They healed naturally on their own, sometimes leaving pale reminders to a certain heartbroken boy.

3 years on, and nothing had changed. The two were playing an intricate game, straddling between over-politeness and a cold indifference. Karin thought that she had done something to incur his wrath, but no matter how much she pestered him, he kept his mouth shut. More often than not, dismissing her with an attitude she did not warrant at all.

When her own heart was broken, she so wanted to run to Toshiro and have a good rant with him, just like the old times. The guy she liked, the guy whom she gave up eating and her vicious snark for, had chosen a girl who was not her. Feeling cheated and betrayed, she wanted nothing for the dull ache in her chest to go away. She had given the new couple her blessings, then ran off to outer Seireitei in the dead of the night, sake on her mind.

Matsumoto once told her that she believed that drink could drown all her pains and worries. It wasn't a lie, Karin bitterly reflected.

She barged into a bar-shack that was kind to the pockets of the unranked Shinigami. There they could buy comfort and sometimes happiness with their coin. Karin leaned over the counter, telling the bartender to give her their strongest sake they had in the house. The old man didn't even bat an eyelash as the skin and bones girl uncorked the bottle and guzzled the whole thing down. It burned a fiery path down her throat and for a few seconds afterwards, she was in a high; nothing mattered anymore. That guy could drown in his own blood and she would throw a party, she thought as another and another bottle of disappeared down her throat.

Had Karin chosen a better place to drink, she wouldn't have been caught in a drunken brawl. It began when Karin was about as drunk as it could get. Some of the rank-and-file officers had a bit too much to drink and mistook her for one of the bar ladies plying their wares. Karin's already short temper amplified by the sake, she had attacked out of anger. Just before swords were drawn, the Shinigami on patrol arrived to break up the fight and sent the respective parties out of the bar with a stern warning.

Staggering back to her dorm room, it was a small miracle that not a single teacher caught her. She collapsed on her bed, a dully throbbing headache keeping her from fully falling asleep.

Hitsugaya was walking about the division offices where he overheard his subordinates chatting. "Yeah last night was miserable alright. Had to break up enough bar fights that I don't want to go drinking anymore." One of the members of a patrol squad complain to his comrades. They nodded in agreement.

"Neh you had it good. At least Kurosaki doesn't drink in your area." Another one piped.

"Kurosaki?" Hitsugaya's ears pricked up at the mention of the familiar name, but he continued on his way.

"Apparently his sister had taken to drinking. The one Matsumoto-fukutaicho said was dating Taicho, something like that. But even when she looks like the living dead-" "Well, we technically are the living dead," someone injected and they shared a laugh. "Well she looked like those skeletons from the world of the living, but that girl can hold her alcohol really well! She was picking fights with those punks from the 11th some more..."

The sound of their chatter grew faint as he turned a corner, but he had the strange urge to go give her a good scolding for being stupid, then hug her and ask her what the hell was going on. But instead, he sternly reminded himself, Karin was the very reason why he couldn't function like a normal person. He would never forgive her for worming her way into his heart and then painfully destroying it from the inside out. The scars on his hand and his heart would never fade.

A winter had passed since. Over the year, Karin had learnt how to smile when she didn't want to, how to blend concealers perfectly to hide the trophies that marked her skin every time she won a bar brawl. But above all, her time was devoted to passing her final exams. As expected, she had done well enough, faring poorly at Kido and History of Soul Society. It was a given since she disliked sitting down daily to train her reiatsu control well enough to fire complex spells. As for history, she couldn't be bothered to write anything more than, "Ichi-nii beats everyone up and unlocks a new level of power and then continues beating everyone up." Especially when then the subject of the Winter War was tested.

As she pulled on the Shihakusho that officially marked her as a Shinigami, she paused to think in a rare moment of reflection. It marked the start and end of a period of her life, some good, mostly bad. The two men that she placed all her feelings in had taken it in their various ways and played with it, and tossed it back like a broken toy when they were done with their games. Her newly manifested Zanpakuto was strapped tightly at her side, the pale yellow wrapping peeking out. As she tossed the last few of her belongings into a moving box, she grabbed a hair tie and put her ink black hair up in its signature ponytail. She would graduate in a few short hours and hopefully, a squad would want her, or she would be at the mercies of the Computers that would assign her a place randomly.

As Histsugaya pulled on his signature white Haori, he glanced at his reflection in the window pane. He had grown only a little in a few years, but his appearance hag changed drastically. His spiky hair no longer used up bottles of gel daily, and he had added a mint green scarf to his attire in a bid to divert one's attention from his scarred hands. As he tidied up the papers on his desk, his Lieutenant poked her head around the door, reminding him that they had to leave for the graduation ceremony soon. He nodded in acknowledgement, grabbing the sheaf of paper where he had written down his choice of recruits. He hoped that they would all accept, or he would be at the mercies of the computers at the 12th division that would assign him rookies.

The formal ceremony had finally ended, and perhaps the most important part of the whole charade would begin soon. One of the teachers stood up and read out the top scorers for the examinations followed by the squads that would be interested in them. As per tradition, the ones who have been made multiple offers would be given until the end of the post-graduation party to make their choice. They had to write their names down on the little token they were given and then pass it to the lieutenants. When it reached Karin's turn, it was no surprise that nearly everyone wanted her on their team save for the 1st, 2nd and 4th divisions.

Karin walked slowly up the stage, accepting the tokens from the respective captains and shaking their hands. When she reached Hitsugaya and shook his hand, she noticed that his snow white skin was peppered with countless scars and half-healing cuts. For that split second, she raised her eyebrows in question, but he gave nothing away on his stone cold features. His reiatsu however, told a different story. In that short time, she managed to catch a wave of sadness and melancholy that was tinged with bitter regret.

On the other hand, Hitsugaya surveyed her with a critical eye. Her skin was a pasty shade, and there were bags under her eyes. She had put on some weight, which was good, but her breath was tinged with the unmistakable smell of stale alcohol. When he grasped her hand in a firm handshake, he felt like he could break her bones should he grab too hard.

In an instant, the moment was over and Karin nodded once at him, before moving on to the next captain.

A month had passed since she accepted a place at the 11th. Currently joint 20th seat with about 30 other people, she was working hard to advance. Yumichika and Ikkaku were pleased to see her in their squad and immediately took her under their wing, the three of them famous for their sheer power. For once, Karin was satisfied. Over that short 4 weeks, she had eaten more than the last year combined and life was slowly flooding back to her. She didn't indulge in drink anymore, and had long forgotten the guy that turned her into a zombie. It was satisfying to know that she could beat him up anytime with both hands tied up.

At the far end of the division compound, where an ill-kept garden lined the walls dividing the 10th and the 11th division, Karin could hear _him_ training his division. If she climbed one of the trees, she could even see the back of the administrative offices.

To her, he looked like a bird with its wings clipped. She noticed, sadly, that he still carried that sad aura around him; it even affected his fighting skills. The way he attacked his opponent was all wrong, it was the exact opposite of how he had fought. He had told her that he had only one rule when it came to fights- know what you are fighting for. Years ago, when she had learnt about his part in the Winter War, his historic fight with the Espada and Aizen, she could see clearly in her mind's eye what his reasons for raising his sword for. She didn't need to even see the fight. She knew from the pages of text on her books that he had one goal, to protect Soul Society and to avenge his fallen friends.

When she saw him fighting with his soldiers, the signals that she got were mumbled and confused. He had no real purpose; not even the will to train his Shinigami. And it shook her to her core. When had he became like that? Determined to put an end to their strange feud as well as to shake some sense into Histugaya, she jumped over the wall and into the 10th's compound.

Running quickly to where Hitsugaya was instructing the newest additions to the squad, she hung back behind a wall and watched as he dismissed them. He walked in the direction of his office, sheathing his sword. Seeing her chance, she shunpoed right behind him and with a great tug, dragged him away.

It was about a second before Hitsugaya reacted with a muttered Kido to his abductor's gut, stopping her short in her tracks. The pair tumbled into the forest divide of the two divisions. His sword slid out of it's sheath with a hiss, and he placed it a hair's breadth away from her throat. It took a few seconds for him to realise who his kidnapper was. Then without a word, the sword returned to its sheath and he turned to shunpo away.

"Hold it right there Toushiro!" Karin yelled as she yanked his hand.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho, 20th seat Kurosaki." He replied coolly, as though she was just another Shinigami. And it made her hopping mad.

"No, it is not. Not for me anyway. Fuck, I've called you Toushiro for god knows how many years! What the heck is your problem?" she demanded, giving him a little shake.

"I have no problem that you speak of, Kurosaki."

"Then why the hell are you acting like someone died?!"

The captain was silenced for a minute. How should he answer when the question was painfully obvious? It would force him to open a place inside his heart that he didn't want to go, and would never share with anyone, least of all Karin. He considered for a moment, to tell her what she really meant to him, to hug her and kiss her and tell her she's the best thing that had ever happened to him in all his 200 years of afterlife. But he couldn't. No matter how much he felt for her, he could never see himself doing anything like that; that which she deserved. She should be with someone that was as lively as her, who would tell her that she's his world and more. But for this captain, he deemed himself too cold and withdrawn to ever be able to provide her with even a fraction of what she ought to have. His only option, he decided, would be to watch her from the backseat and ensure her life is safe and happy. And ultimately, give her away to another man should she be happy with him, even if it meant throwing all his happiness out of the window. With his resolve found again, he began to speak.

"Well, firstly, no one has passed away. Secondly Kurosaki, I would appreciate it stay that way, especially with the division you hang out with." He said, fixing a cold gaze on her.

"That's not your problem, you know, which division I joined. Don't change the subject. What. Is. Your. Bloody. Problem?" She snapped back.

"My problem is you, Kurosaki."

"Karin. My name is Karin." She said venomously.

Ignoring her, he continued, pacing about. "After graduating you run off joining the 11th division. Do you have a death wish? They're usually the first division out in the field when there's a problem. How many missions can you do before your luck runs out and you die?"

"Luck? I don't run on luck, Toushiro. I train every single waking minute and that's why I'm the 20th seat. Ahead of about 500 others who have been here longer than I have been alive and dead!" She snarled, a hand flying to her sword. "I swear, you're as bad as Ichi-nii! I don't need another brother thank you very much."

"Don't you realise it?! The 11th has the highest death rate among all the 13 sqauds. Even the 12th has fewer dead members than the 11th for all the experimenting the do on their own members! You could have gone to any division and you could be safe! I offered you a place in my division, if being 20th seat is that important to you I would have given it to you!" He yelled back.

"Safe? So you care about my safety eh, Toushiro? Therefore you want me to transfer to the 10th?" Hitsugaya nodded slowly.

"Well you can fuck off! Don't tell me the 10th's way better than where I am now. Look at yourself. You think I never noticed all those scar wounds on your hands? How do you explain that? If even Hitsugaya-taicho, the child prodigy who has the strongest ice-type sword ever, gets such serious wounds when he's not even deployed, what about the rest of them... I hope I won't end up as Hollow food!" She snarled viciously, subconsciously taking steps towards him.

"As you so eloquently put it, what happens to me is none of your business." He said calmly.

"Gods, Toushiro, won't you just tell me what I did that got you in such a pissy mood for the last 4 years?" Karin closed the gap between them and glared down at him.

"It's none of your concern, Kurosa-"

"IT'S KARIN NOT KUROSAKI YOU SON OF A BITCH. Even if you won't tell me your problems, at least get my name correct. Kurosaki is my brother. I am Karin. Get that in that thick skull of yours." The silent hiss of a sword being drawn melted into the surroundings as a blade found its way to his throat. Hitsugaya suppressed a wry smile. Yes, this was the violent girl he loved and her time with the 11th did nothing for it.

"If you insist, Karin. And there's nothing wrong with me; I have a division to run and you have duties to attend to, I won't be wasting more time here." And he shunpoed away leaving a suspicious Karin in his wake to see herself back into her division.

Even though their meeting was strange and awkward, it seemed to have patched their relationship up in an unspoken agreement.

For the next three years, all was well. Hitsugaya ran his division like a well oiled machine, Matsumoto drank herself into a drunken stupor every other day and Ichigo was rumored to become a Captain... the usual things were happening. Karin herself had risen through the ranks, currently being the youngest person to hold the 9th seat in the division. There was even talk saying that she would be promoted yet again, after her next mission. Although the girl in question brushed these allegations aside, she secretly looked forward to her next assignment so she could yet again be promoted. But assignments were rare for those 10th seat and above. For them to be deployed, there must have been a Hollow of sizeable difficulty to be taken care of.

She was at her desk doing paperwork when a Hell Butterfly flew in, asking the 11th to send backup for the 9th Division. They were experiencing difficulties defeating a rouge Hollow. Before any other ranking officers could demand the task be given to them, Karin grabbed her Zanpakuto and shunpoed off towards the location given in the message.

When she reached, a good look around her told her she had left the Districts and strayed into the land beyond. Sending out her senses, she felt nothing, not a single shred of reiatsu from the 9th, or even the stench of the Hollow. As she muttered a curse about false alarms and turned to go back, she felt the swoosh of air at the nape of her neck which was too close for comfort. She shunpoed away instinctively.

Now fully alert, she drew out her Zanpakuto, scanning her surroundings carefully. There was nothing but empty land all around her, and the air was still. What on earth was that? Still holding onto her sword warily, she sent her senses out again. There was nothing- wait. She could feel it, just a tiny bit that should she be in Seireitei, she might have mistaken it for parts of architecture. But on the barren land, it was clear to her that what she had sensed was definitely not part of the walls.

Shunpoing to where she felt the reiatsu emit, she didn't see anything again. She almost stomped her foot in frustration. If this was a test from the top brass, she would be ready to pick a fight. Grumbling, she walked around the region, trying to pick up that faint pulse of reiatsu again. That was when she tripped over something and went stumbling down a gentle slope. Looking back at what she tripped on, she was pretty sure it wasn't thin air that caused her to fall, but there was nothing.

With caution, she walked back up, looking very carefully at the ground. She inspected the site where she tripped and on closer look, realised something was amiss. There were residual traces of reishi, not reiatsu. Reishi was what made up Shinigami's bodies as well as almost anything up in Soul Society. It would be strange to find it here of all places...

She crouched down to have a closer look at the reishi, fingers brushing the pale blue flakes that were slowly disintegrating into the air, and almost got cut into half.

Flipping out of the way just in time, she had a good glance at her attacker. Bingo, a huge crab like Hollow had materialized form thin air, waving its razor sharp claws around. This time, she didn't even need to use her sensing abilities; the reiatsu was so strong she felt the air thicken. With a crazed laugh, she unsheathed her sword and began to engage the Hollow in a fight.

Right from the start, she knew it was no ordinary Hollow. It's movements seemed to be intelligent, as if it were trying to seek out her weaknesses and attack her there. She only managed to block barely as it struck its pincers mercilessly against the flat of her sword. Deciding that enough was enough, she released her Zanpakuto with a flourish, the steel blade turning into a huge scythe which she swung mercilessly at the offending creature.

The pair fought, neither gaining the upper hand. Judging from her opponent's attacking speeds, it was tiring itself out. With adrenaline from the sheer excitement of a fight pumping through her veins, she swung a her blade down in a sweeping motion, straight at the mask. At the very last moment, a pincer appeared ensnaring the handle of the scythe in a death grip. The other claw shot straight at her and she managed to doge the attack. Despite her best efforts, a long and deep gash appeared along her arm, but it was no time to tend to injuries as the Hollow raised its pincers in preparation of yet another attack.

Man, was Karin livid as hell. With a final push and yell, the tip of her blade cracked the mask cleanly in half, the Hollow dissipating.

With a curse, she bandaged her arm with a scrap of cloth torn and shunpoed back to Seireitei, knowing the lecture Toshiro would give her if she was caught in this bloodied state.

The next few days passed without much to do, but Karin felt strangely tired, as if the energy in her was leaking out. A week after that mission, she could hardly stay awake for a few minutes at a time. Her wound was also healing ridiculously slowly and she was pretty fed up with everything. That afternoon, during one of the sword drills with the unseated members, she collapsed.

She was quickly brought to the Fourth, the healers trying to use their diagnostic Kido on her with no success. It reflected nothing serious enough to warrant her collapse. Several healers of respectable rank were called forth to keep her alive while they tried to call Unohanna-taicho to her. Hours later, Karin still hasn't stirred, and Unohanna herself had undertaken the task of treating her.

Ichigo and Hitsugaya had both been summoned quickly. The news wasn't good at all. Apparently, the wound Karin received would not close when the healers tried to use the usual procedures. To make matters worse, the wound was leaking truckloads of reiatsu. No matter how much the healers tried to top it up with their own, no one short of a captain-class Shinigami could pour enough reiatsu into her at any one time for her wound to close up. The fact was that she was leaking like a sieve and nothing could be done for her. However, both men immediately volunteered to do it. Unohana warned that to sacrifice a Captain would be a grave decision that had to be discussed with the head captain, and the final result would be unlikely. The captains are too important for the stability of Seireitei, she had also warned.

"Then what about if two of us do this reiatsu thing?" Ichigo demanded.

"That would be even worse, Kurosaki-san. Although neither would die, but both would most likely loose all sense of spiritual awareness, making both of nothing better than the souls in Rukongai." Unohanna replied. "However, if there are more captains who are willing, the chances of all of you surviving with your powers attached are of course higher. But I believe that it would be best to inform Yamamoto-soutaicho before we even start anything. Incapacitating a large number of captains at one time for one girl is not something we can do just like that."

Ichigo could only stare at her in distress, running any possible methods to treat Karin by Unohanna, each possible solution shot down for various reasons.

For Hitsugaya, his mind was made up.

In the dead of the night, he snuck into her room. As he cast his gaze upon her, she looked like death. Her face was pale and bones were poking her skin at unnatural places. All the weight that she had gained in the last few years had gone. Her eyes were closed, and if not for the slight rising and falling of her chest, he would have thought her dead. He closed his eyes, trying to sense for even the tinniest trace of her reiatsu. Even as he was standing next to her and had used his ability to the best he could, there was barely anything that was tainted with her signature. So it was true, he thought to himself as he drew a shaky breath. Then he will do it. For a minute, the faces of the people he had met and times he spent in Soul Society flashed through his mind like a movie. A pang of sadness hit him as he thought about those who would cry for him, especially Matsumoto and Hinamori, who were like his sisters. But he sworn to put her above anyone, and so he will honor this promise for her. He muttered an apology to everyone, hoping that in their sleep they may hear it, as unlikely as it would be.

Placing his hands on her forehead, he closed his eyes and shoved every single ounce of his reiatsu straight into her soul. He felt his Zanpakuto roar in distress, but continued anyway. Even if he had never done something like that before, could feel his reiatsu trickling back into the environment. She was like a sieve, nothing stayed in her.

Letting out an anguished cry he forced more reiatsu into her. For gods sake all which water comes into contact with is under his command, he command everything, so why can't he save the girl he loved? He dug deep into his reiatsu reserves, every drop of it he poured it into her. Unknown to him, he was absorbing pure reishi into his body and converting it into reiatsu, something no one has done and lived to tell the tale. Hours flew by as Hitsugaya continued.

Day break. The sun was beginning to rise, and he could feel the her wound closing, the reiatsu beginning staying within her. He found it hard to breathe, his lungs were slowly breaking down from over use. He was fading, he could feel it. But he did not panic or flail about. He simply opened his eyes one last time, drinking in the sight of his precious Karin. With weakened hands, he removed his Haori, draping it over her shivering form, cold from his reiatsu. That was the last thing he ever did as he felt the life leave his body.

In the late morning, Unohanna was making her rounds when she stepped into Karin's room. The furniture was all but gone, a white captain's Haori draped carefully on her patient. Fearing the worst, she hurriedly ran a check on Karin. Her wound was barely noticeable, and her reiatsu was slowly but surely rebuilding itself. She paused in shock, just for a second, to take in what had happened. The next second, she had shunpoed away, formulating a report to the Head Captain for they had to arrange for the funeral of the 10th Squad's captain.

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**A/N: Gwaaah this was much longer than I realized and I'm sorry it was late. FFnet wasn't being very nice to me (cough upload errors cough). There'll be another one-shot thingy on Saturday/Sunday as promised! Please leave a comment if you want! **


	11. Quincy's Quick Fix

**Barrista AU**

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"Gods damn it Kurosaki!" Ishida yelled yet again as coffee splashed on his hand.

"Sorry there Ishida! I swear I'm trying my best!" The orange-haired barrista apologized as he filled another cup with the customer's order of an iced latte.

"Well make it look like you're putting in an effort!" Ishida all but yelled at his co-worker.

It was lunch time and the crowds were flowing in thick and fast. The tiny cafe they were currently working in was situated just outside a university and next to a busy office building. Countless sleep deprived students and workers made their way down to the tiny cafe that sold expensive coffee to find a wake up call. Lunch time was especially bad, with the four of them having to yell and scream over the noisy crowds to be heard.

Orihime and Ichigo were the latest additions to the 'Quincy's quick-fix Coffee House'. They were hired just so that the lunch crowd could be tackled quickly. But actually, their presence made the place more crowded than ever. Orihime had people who would drive hours just to see her smile at them and hand them coffee. Ichigo, who's just on his first shift, seemed to be doing more harm than good with his clumsy ways. Oh well, who else could Ishida coerce into this kind of job?

"KUROSAKI! WOULD IT KILL YOU TO BE MORE CAREFUL?" Ishida screamed yet again as an ice cold concoction went right onto his red and swollen hand.

"Sorry Ishida I really can't get the hang of this." Ichigo apologized as he completed yet another order.

"Would it kill you to not fill the damned cup to the brim?" Ishida asked while taking down orders.

"Every time I pour the stuff in and take my eyes off for 1 second to get ready the next order it overflows! What the heck am I supposed to do?" The flustered teen replied as another cup of coffee was filled precariously full. Whenever Ishida hurriedly grabbed the cup to put the lid on, it would over flow and splash onto him. He really was losing his patience.

"You know what? Swap with me. I'll show you how it's supposed to be done."

Ishida cussed under his breath as Ichigo passed him his apron.

"All you need to do, Kurosaki, is to put their order through the machine, ask for their names, then write them on the cup and pass it to me. Got it?" The black haired boy instructed, pushing up his glasses.

"Yeah yeah, I wasn't born yesterday you know."

"Well your pouring skills leave much to be desired."

The crowds were not thinning, no matter how fast the crew served their customers. As they found out, Ichigo was worse off behind the counter than pouring coffee.

"House Coffee for a... guy wearing a horrible tie? Guy wearing a horrible tie!" Orihime called as about 15 different people looked down at their ties.

"Kurosaki-kun, who are you referring to?" Orihime called from the other side of the counter as 4 different males with bad looking ties surged forward to claim their drink.

"Huh? That one there." He yelled to Orihime, the customer he was serving wincing from the volume.

"Where?!"

"Ah just give me that!" And he crossed over the small work space, pushing Ishida against the counter and ripped the drink from Orihime's hands. He passed it to one of the customers who was close to bursting with anger at his description.

"You know what, go back to pouring coffee." Ishida muttered as they swapped roles.

That was how Ishida nearly had to be sent to the hospital for all the burns he suffered. After the crowds have all mercifully gone, Orihime helped bandage up his arm (that made it a lot better). If the coffee house was not severely short on manpower, he would have sent Ichigo packing. But alas, who wanted to work in such a place during the lunch rush hour?

Despite everything, Ishida breathed a sigh of relief. The day's takings had been good and most customers looked happy when they left. He puffed his chest out a bit in pride. This coffee house had been passed down from generation to generation. He himself grew up smelling coffee and learning how to brew tea the right way. His grandfather had taught him whatever he had known, to the chagrin of his father who insisted that running a coffee shop cannot feed a family. Hence, the shop fell to Ishida's care. He would make his grandfather proud.

"Alright guys, I think we can take a break before the night shift." Ishida's words were cut off by the sound of the door bells jingling, showing in a new customer.

Ishida's eyes lit up. Ah, here was another person who appreciated coffee as much as he did!

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime cried in delight as she ran forward to give the petite girl a hug.

Ishida wiped his hands on his apron, smiling as he went to greet his favourite customer. Before he got past the counter, the phone in the back room rang obnoxiously. With a sigh, he doubled back to pick up the call.

"Pst Ishida." Ichigo hissed at him.

"What now Kurosaki?" He replied.

"Who's that midget?"

"Who are you calling a midget, dumbass?!" Apparently subtlety was not his strong point. The raven haired girl asked, stomping up to him. She then proceeded to grab the front of his apron and yanked him down to eye level. "Say that to my face again!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. Was it that all short people had big tempers? Despite how much he wanted to sock her, he kept his mouth shut.

"Kuchiki-san! Kurosaki-kun doesn't mean it at all! Did you know just now he called someone 'guy wearing a horrible tie'?" Orihime laughed as she dragged Rukia to one of the vacant tables. The orange haired teen rolled his eyes. Seems like Orihime knew that girl. He shook his head and went back to cleaning up his work station.

A while later, Orihime said she needed to pop out for a bit and bade Rukia goodbye, grabbing her things and leaving. Ichigo started putting the last few cans of coffee beans back into their respective places, glad that his shift was going to be over in a short while.

Rukia, who was busy with her handphone, suddenly looked up and yelled at him. "Oi orange top! Get me one of my usual and one of my brother's favorite, less milk this time. Thanks!"

Ichigo almost dropped the coffee can in disbelief. What?! Didn't that girl realise he's new? He glanced at her, but she was busy talking away on her phone. "Hey!" He shouted, trying to get her attention. She shot him a dark look that clearly asked him to shut up. Fuming, he grabbed the chalk board that decorated the counter and scribbled a few words quickly, showing it to her.

She shot him a look of distaste, but rummaged through her bag all the same and brought out a sketch book and a myriad of colored markers, furiously writing on it while carrying on with her conversation. When she was done, she lifted it up. Ichigo had to squint to see properly; the writing was so weird. After a long time, he realised that it wasn't writing he was looking at, it was a bunch of drawings that depicted how the coffee was to be made?

Or that was what it looked like in his opinion. It was hard, considering that it seemed like all the colors in the universe had exploded on the page. There were weird looking marshmallow shaped lumps with ears and noses. Wait... were they supposed to be bunnies? Even what he assumed to be the finished drink looked a bit purple. He gave a 'WTF' look which the raven haired girl promptly ignored.

Sighing in defeat, he just grabbed some coffee beans and began making two lattes, one with less milk. Grumbling to himself, he cursed the high heavens that he had to deal with such a customer. The latte was quickly completed, the smell of coffee beans wafting through the air. He began pouring the hot drink into to-go cups when suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed the cup from right under him! The remains of the coffee splashed on him and he jumped back with a yelp.

"What the hell?" He yelled as pain lanced up his arm.

Rukia made no reply but looked down at the cup of coffee with a critical eye, swirling it around as if it were some fine wine. She then took a cautious sip, eyes fluttering shut as the drink went down her throat. It was rather silly, but Ichigo found himself wondering if his concoction was up to her standard. For a long while, her eyes remained closed as she tasted the drink. He found himself caring a good deal whether this weird girl was pleased.

"Hm... not bad, for a newbie." She finally said. The carrot-top found that the tension that he had was leaking out like a deflating balloon. So his efforts warranted a 'not bad' from the coffee maniac. He didn't know what to feel.

"LIKE REAL!" She suddenly screamed, whacking him across the head as she spat out the coffee. "Your technique is crap, you have no precision and there is absolutely no subtlety in this coffee! What was Ishida thinking to hire you?!"

"Gods!" He screamed, jumping back. Yep, this one definitely has a Napoleon complex.

"I'll show you how it's done," she said as she climbed over the counter and into the work station, taking out tools like a seasoned pro.

"We start by mixing the different kinds of coffee beans. Use Arabica and Robustica. One part Robustica to 4 parts Arabica." She instructed, as the slightly confused barrista got out the beans and poured them out of the tin, using his great powers of estimation. That earned him a whack from his instructor. "You use a weighing scale dumbass!" She cried, the required tool magically appearing.

Shaking his head, he complied and weighed out the exact amount of beans under her watchful eye. She gave the brown nuggets a once over, nodding her head in agreement. "Now grind the beans." Ichigo let out a sigh of relief. Here was something he probably could do without getting hit. He picked up the small serving of beans and tossed it into the grinder attached to the expresso machine and hit the on button. The machine whirled to life, the smell of coffee infusing into the air. Ah, what a great smell! His joy was short lived, for yet again, he was assaulted by the tiny girl. As he rubbed his arm, he wondered what he did wrong this time.

"What now shorty?!"

"Imbecile! Who says we're using the expresso machine?" She countered, tutting under her breath.

"Then what?"

"Are you blind or do you really not see? Ishida has the best French Press in the whole town! It was custom made by his grandfather, of course we use that!" She punctuated her sentences with hits and jabs, earning a scrowl from her student. "Get the coffee out of the grinder this instant before we get coffee paste!" She yelled not a second later, jabbing him with a pen.

"Coffee-crazed idiots..." He muttered. This would be a long shift indeed.

Several pots of coffee later, a sweaty Ichigo had finally brewed what Rukia deemed an acceptable pot. Who knew coffee making took so much effort? He had to restart half way when he forgot to stir the coffee beans after the water was poured. He also had to practice pouring the coffee into the cup in just the right manner, so that his slave driver would be satisfied. The evening crowd was starting to trickle in and he really wanted to get out lest he got called to help out.

The perfect cup of the brew stood proudly between the two, a moment of silence as they both took in the result of their hard work.

"Well, I think I've wasted enough time here today, see ya around midget." Ichigo finally said, slipping off his apron while walking towards the back room.

"Oi! My name's not midget! It's Kuchiki Rukia! Don't forget that idiot!" She yelled at his retreating figure, waving their cup of coffee in the air.

"And my name's Kurosaki Ichigo, not idiot!" He called out as he disappeared through the door way.

"What a stupid name he has.." She muttered, taking a sip of the coffee they brewed, struggling a bit to swallow it down. "All he needs is more practice." She convinced herself as she left the shop, her brother's order forgotten.

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**IMPORTANT A/N: From now on, if you'd wish to make a request, you'd have to PM me (for I have flouted section 5 of the rules and what not) **


	12. Moon

**Before the Quincy Invasion**

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Darkness has fallen upon Soul Society. In Rukongai, the night was just getting started. Shady men prowled up and down the lanes, watching and waiting for their unsuspecting prey. Fights were not uncommon, the blood of men splattered against broken walls and bumpy pavements. Inner Seireitei however, was calm and quiet. The divisions had retired for the night, and only the night watchmen were awake. This area also housed the main complexes of the Four Noble Houses, each over tens of hectares large and guarded by some of the best warriors money could buy. There the occupants usually retired early, save for the odd aristocrat that had an engagement.

In one of these sprawling mini-villages, the head of a clan was taking a leisurely stroll. His adopted sister had turned in, wishing to arrive at her division earlier to help out with some things. He himself made a mental note to go to bed soon, or he may miss the Captain's meeting scheduled at the ungodly hour of 8 in the morning.

Unconsciously, his walk had taken him to a more secluded area of his compound- the back gardens. Although it was shabbier than the main gardens, he did not mind, simply because she liked it.

Years ago, he and his wife used to admire the moon there together. She had told him, once upon a time while in Rukongai, that her baby sister had believed the Four Noble Houses were built on the moon. When they lay starving on the streets, they'd come up with elaborate dreams of what they might find once they reached it. There she and her sister would never starve again, and could wear as many fine ornaments and trinkets as they saw fit. Her sister would always fall asleep before they could finish their elaborate depictions of the imagined lifestyle. Even though they were starving and cold, and the future looked bleak, her little sister would point a finger up to the bright moon, and say that one day she'll build a huge flying ship and bring them both up so they can have good days together. She'd always laugh in spite of their situation and told her young sister to aim for the moon, so that should she fail, she'd still be among the stars. Little Rukia always gave her a look of bewilderment but Hisana would hold her a little tighter and tell her to go to sleep, never mind what nonsense her elder sister sprouted.

A cruel twist of fate saw the elder sister abandoning the younger one. She had left the girl at the doorstep of a brothel. It wasn't the best choice, but it was the most ideal. No one would willingly throw away a would-be worker, she had reasoned when she left her sister at the door. She told Rukia that she would go off to find good food for them to eat and she would be back shortly. She never did come back.

A few days later, driven mad by the guilt, she went back to find her, but she wasn't there. Probably dead, one of the homeless on the street told her. She refused to believe it.

Byakuya closed his eyes briefly. He could feel her presence right beside him although she had long gone. Every time he stepped out to admire the moon, he could recall with crystal clear clarity the stories she would tell him. It took him several months to earn her trust; he would never forget the night where she finally confided in him.

She had worked her way up from the bottom of society. First as a bar maid in the worst bars of the 78th district, she then sold herself as a worker to one of the pleasure houses in the 60th district. There she had learnt how to read and write from her clients who were all too willing to oblige her with lessons. Soon after, she was bought over by one of her customers as a maid and lady companion for his daughter, and moved to the 14th district. It was there when she was traded to the then head of the Kuchiki clan for a favor. She had done everything in her power to look for Rukia. She believed that the closer she got to powerful people, the more likely she'd find a way to get her sister back from the clutches of Rukongai. She had always believed that the moon would guide her. It was her sister's dream to fly to the moon, and so she would make at least one dream of her sister's come true. She swore it by the very same moon that saw them through their hardest days.

Byakuya could still recall the fierce look of determination in her eyes as she swore to find her sister and bring her a good life. How could he not, when moments after that passionate declaration she had dropped to her knees and begged him with tears streaming down her face to assist her in her task? He too, remembered his exact response. He had almost yelped in surprise. He told her to dry her tears, for that as long as the clan existed, he would find Rukia and take her in. This too, he swore by the light of the silvery moon. He pulled her off her knees into a tight hug, as she kept on crying against his shoulder, apologizing for being such as mess and reaching above her station. He only gripped her tighter.

When he reached that point in his memories, he stopped short. A wave of pain flooded his heart. He didn't want to remember the pain of losing her.

He sighed once, continuing on his walk around the garden. Barely a year after she had passed on, he found Rukia. Immediately he had sent out for the relevant documents to adopt Rukia in to the house of Kuchiki. When he met her that day, the similarities between her and her sister were so acute that he might as well have been standing in front of a copy. He couldn't bear to look at her more than necessary.

The night he had taken in Rukia, he had finally ventured into the gardens again. He had refused to go after she had died, every leaf and rock a painful reminder. He stood under the plum tree which she loved, looking at the bright moon. He stood there in silence for a long time, admiring, just admiring, how beautiful the garden looked bathed in moonlight.

By the next time he had visited the garden, a small memorial had been erected in her honor. Kneeling in front of it, he noted the shadows that the moonlight had cast on it, making the place even more surreal. He murmured, "Hisana, today Rukia had unlocked the powers of her Shinkai. It's first attack, it is 'White Moon'."

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**A/N: I've got a beta reader now! Thanks to Aria's Locket for agreeing!**


	13. Special Note

**A/N: Hi all, this is NOT a new chapter, but something I had wanted to clarify in regards to the chapter Burnt Roses. **

As many of you have realised, it is almost word-for-word identical to a work titiled "Smoke and Flowers". That work had been left unpdated for nearly a few years now, and I wanted to rework it and continue it on, since it is such as shame that a good work like that was never completed. My plan was to wrap it up in 5 instalments, and I had messaged the author about it. However, they did not reply (their account must have been inactive for some time) and I proceeded with rewriting. I understand that many people are uncomfortable with my "copying" so I have removed said chapter and will not be posting it or any more parts relating to it unless I've gotten express permission. So my apologies to anyone I may have offended, it was with the best intentions. I hope you will all forgive this incident.

-Ko'orisha


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